Hello all,
After spending the first half of my summer traveling the world, I have used the last month to relax, unwind and think. A lot. The majority of my thinking has been centered around my lifestyle and how I can improve it. I've come up with a lot of ways, and one of them includes spending much much less time and energy on encouraging consumerism.
I've been gradually setting up/moving into my new apartment near my school, and in the process I've come to realize how much stuff I own. So so much. It's actually incredible - I flew to NY from Missouri last August - I only brought one suitcase with me. In less than a year my possessions have become so numerous that I have managed to fill the biggest closet in my new apartment and I still don't have enough room for everything.
I don't even shop that much - it may come as a surprise, as I'm a fashion blogger, but I honestly don't buy a lot of clothes. When I do buy clothes I am incredibly cheap - I generally only buy things on sale or things from thrift stores in Missouri - really really cheap ones.
I don't even quite understand how I've acquired so much stuff in the past year, but I am making it my goal to get rid of everything that I don't need. This includes a large amount of clothes that I never even wear.
I will no longer be accepting free clothes that I don't need from companies that I've never even heard of. I will still post outfits, but I will only wear secondhand clothing (and the clothing I already own) in my posts. I can't give up my love of styling outfits for myself, but I can give up the wasteful lifestyle that comes along with it and I can promote an alternative lifestyle - one that doesn't destroy the planet as quickly.
In the last month I've also made another massive life decision. I've decided to become a vegan. I'm not doing this for health reasons. I gave up eating meat about two and a half years ago, and I will never eat meat again. I don't believe in harming other beings - I don't even kill insects anymore because I think it's wrong. My becoming a vegan is not so much a personal ethical decision but a form of political protest - I will no longer stand for the way that farm animals are treated in the world - particularly in the United States. I will do everything I can to oppose the system of factory farming, starting with the food that I put into my mouth. I will likely turn this blog into a hybrid fashion-food blog so that I can have an outlet for discussing these two enormous changes that I'll be making in my life.
