Thank you so much for your comment, Erin. It means a lot, and I’m really glad to hear that this post resonated with you. Thank you for following along!

hhhh

xoxo! Thanks Bianca!

Right there with you. On the flip side, I’ve asked myself why it took COVID for me to actually realize how mindlessly I was consuming? I’m thankful for the eye-opener. Thanks for sharing with me! I feel less alone.

you know, it’s something that came up in a conversation with friends recently, I realized it was something a lot of us needed to get out in the open. I didn’t anticipate being told to go to AA while sharing it here, and I assume that’s why more people don’t talk about it. Thanks for the support and I’m glad it resonated with you! Here’s to self-reflection.

sending you <3! ride that wave!

Appreciate that, Ana!

Thank you, Sarah!

Thanks Erin! It really doesn’t bother me, personally– but thank you for the support. I’m only writing because I worry about others who haven’t processed similar feelings and fear being judged more than making a change. To people afraid to feel what they’re avoiding, I say, come on in! It’s OK to be a mess sometimes.

Hi Miikka, I hope you are enjoying the weather in Minneapolis!

Thank you for these reflections, Kate. I’m 70 and have retired from 32 years of high school teaching. I follow a few young influencers because I enjoy the beauty you post, and I like to keep up with what’s going on with other generations. Some of your musings are quite similar to feelings I experienced upon retiring. Much of my sense of usefulness, my identity, my place in the world came from interaction with my students. One day those things existed; the next day they didn’t. I didn’t read your essay as a struggle with materialism. Rather, I saw it as an examination of any of the distractions we use to keep from looking at ourselves and from showing our true selves to others. Those distractions could even be things as noble as busying ourselves with teaching, volunteering, or living with less. Since retirement has allowed me more time to look at myself, I see how very judgmental and unforgiving I am. And I related to the first response to your essay with those feelings. In order not to pass judgment, I have to pause and tell myself that someone’s treatment of us has more to do with who they are than with who we are. I’m not good at it. How crazy for me to be so old and still struggling! So thank you for writing something that ended up taking me through a process I need to practice. ❤️

Before I got to that realization, I spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars on “stuff” with the justification I was supporting small local businesses. It felt like an easy way to justify the rush of clicking “buy.”

And, with the alcohol – hard same! It felt like vacation every day, or a reward for just existing in this wild state of things. We have a new rule as of early April about the # of days we drink or the total units per week, and that structure has helped significantly.

Except when it comes to passing judgment on people you don’t know and admittedly only seek out in an attempt to self validate through hate and disdain for different lifestyles? Where is the compassion. I hope you feel better about yourself through your attempt to take down a stranger online. I’m not sure what other motivation would have fueled you to write such hateful things, so that must be your reasoning–and you must be in deep pain, indeed.

Meanwhile, thank you, Kate, for being vulnerable and open to give voice to your experiences.

“oH iN fInLaNd LeSs Is MoRe” – My eyes fell out of my head because I rolled them too hard.

You know what? Sometimes I feel judgy and envious and all those things that social media brings out in all of us. But then I sit with it, look inside and realize that judging other people is just my way of not dealing with my own shit. You should go deal with your shit Miika. Because Kate was brave and did that here. And you rewarded her by slapping her hand. And that says more about you than her.

Kate, you’re not a mess. You’re adapting to life in the midst of a global crisis. You’re doing your best and most importantly, you’re reflecting and learning. I know you know this, but I felt I had to respond to the comment that suggested otherwise. We ALL need to be more compassionate to others and ourselves. Thank you for sharing.

I hope for your sake and your loved ones you will be able to, one day, take a look at yourself and see your behavior for what it is rather than being critical of someone else. I’m sorry you aren’t able to face whatever demons it is that you have that would propel you to be so nasty. Also, you could just not follow. Pretty simple.

Oh, In Finland less is more.