I joined the healthy habits challenge, but not SYC. I don't shop very much, so I never have the problems of overbuying, overspending, having an overstuffed closet, ect. Although, I will admit that I do occasionally suffer from the related "orphans" and "I have nothing to wear" problems. As far as the healthy habits challenge goes, it doesn't tend to be as much of an overindulgence problem either. Actually, I think I suffer from what I think might be the equally common problem of not indulging myself enough. I tend not to take time and or energy or money for myself -- something I think that a lot of women in today's busy world have problems with. I also think there is an associated guilt of nurturing/bettering oneself that is inherent along with the lack of time and energy.
What the healthy habits challenge has done for me so far is to encourage me to create a system of accountability for setting aside the time to exercise in an attempt to take better care of my health and hopefully help increase my energy and decrease the guilt and the stress. I have signed up for a course, which means I can counteract the little voice in my head when it argues with me. Since I am enrolled, I am not being selfish or wasting time I don't have, I HAVE to do it. Hopefully the challenge and the first change will help me make some smaller choices and changes to help make the exercising easier (diet, sleep) that will help me get through the day! Of course, I will likely find that the inverse is also true and exercising will probably make sleep easier.
I have found that in the past the same type of things work for dressing better. When I have been in situations where I HAD to take the time to buy a handful of good clothes that went together because of environmental standards or events, it was much easier for me to justify the time and money spent. Generally I feel/want to look better and find a piece or two, but then come to a "seemingly" dead end because of fit or some other issues. Then I feel defeated and as though I am wasting a lot of my time and I quit and end up with "orphans." The same thing goes for money. I'll start trying to build outfits and find that the cost is just prohibitive (inside my head!) when it comes to getting all the pieces together for a handful. I return to the headspace that just one or two outfits won't make a difference when I have 5 or 6 other days that the same people see me. Or I start worrying about wearing the same outfit every week once or twice a week and the experiment is over. Goodness-- I make myself sound like someone's grandmother from the great depression!
So, while I think that the articles and the underlying themes of replacing fulfillment in one part of your life with "stuff" can definitely be true, I think a totally different mentality can bring people to the same places. Food for thought, I guess!
