My birthday was last week. After reading THIS from one of my favorite blogs and THIS from the minimalist blog (and book), I decided to request something a bit different this year.
Not as much stuff.
It's not that I never want any THING ever again, I just want to place a greater focus on experiences and people and relationships. I've found them to last much longer than THINGS anyway. So, when asked by friends and family what I wanted this year, I tried to use some creativity. And I feel like it paid off big. One of the best birthdays I can remember. And the actual gifting was pretty limited. Heavy on the experiences, light on the stuff.
I felt (and still feel) a bit sheepish about it. How do you tell people you don't want anything for your birthday or any other holiday? How do you answer the question "What did you get?" without looking like a mountain dwelling hermit? How do you explain that being with someone is better than any gift they could give?
It's a weird experience and I don't know how I'm going to approach the overwhelming materialism of Christmas this year, but this birthday has given me hope that it can be successful and that people will understand.
Read those two blog posts if you have a second. Maybe we can start a revolution. Less stuff. More time with each other :)
I'll join in on the revolution :)
ReplyDelete