Authenticity, Freedom and LESS

The Year of Less – How I Stopped Shopping, Gave Away My Belongings, and Discovered Life Is Worth More Than Anything You Can Buy In a Store by Cait Flanders. Cait Flanders writes a blog called CaitFlanders.com. Several years ago, she embarked on a year-long experiment to NOT purchase anything that was not consumable or not needed (or not related to her dream of travel) and documented her journey on her blog. The book about her year of un-consumerism takes her experiences and adds in some background information and post-experiment discoveries that she didn’t write about in her blog. It’s a fascinating read by an interesting and likable author. Her basic premise is that her shopping was more about a searching for a way to dim the unavoidable pain and discomfort of regular life (with all of its ups and downs) rather than a careful use of resources. Cait’s discoveries and how she ties together her personal experiences gave me a whole new lense through which to look at my own relationship with spending (and not just of money but perhaps the most important resource we have: time). The authors voice is friendly and authentic. Her story is powerful and thought-provoking. Her anecdotes are at times hilarious and surprising (such as why did several people who learned of her experiment have such a negative reaction? Isn’t understanding ourselves and striving to develop financial good sense a positive goal?) The book is a short and easy read. Her message, however, has a depth that her friendly, conversational tone makes easy to access. I especially liked her recognition of the two “Caits” that she had shopped for in the past – the authentic, real Cait and the more impressive “Cait” she thought she SHOULD strive to be.  I will be thinking about the implications of Cait’s story for quite a while.