Sevens

My mom recently loaned me her copy of the book 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess by Jen Hatmaker.  I know, I'm a sucker for social experiments.  I can't help myself.

"Do you feel trapped in the machine of excess?"  That's what the back of the book asked me when I picked it up.  "Not exactly," I said.  "But you have me intrigued.  Do go on."  Then it told me that Jen Hatmaker wanted to simplify certain areas of her life to not only cut down on excess, but to leave more room for God.  You see, Jen is the wife of a pastor.  But let me tell you right now, she ain't your typical preacher's wife.  The way she writes is thought provoking, but also so, so funny.  There was this whole thing about bread vs. tortillas in the Food chapter that made me laugh out loud.

Each month she would only use/consume 7 things, depending on the month.  7 foods, 7 clothes, etc.  Hello, of course I wanted to try this!  But since I'm kind of in the middle of my own social experiment here (having many adventures... of which this is one) I planned a mini version.  Instead of a whole month for each seven areas of excess I did a business week. 
 
Want to know how I did?  Read on…
 
WEEK ONE: 7 FOODS
Mission at the Beginning of the Week:
Eat only chicken, sweet potatoes, avocados, spinach, apples, eggs, and whole grain bread.
 
Recap at the End of the Week:
Remember how I was all, "I read this book and now I'm only going to eat seven foods for a whole week and simplify my life and stuff and won't that be fun?!"  Yah, it was fun for all of, like, five seconds.

Monday started off pretty good.  Grocery shopping was super easy because there were only seven things on my grocery list and I got all excited because limiting my scope of choices made me more creative with my menu planning and cooking.  Monday and Tuesday I made omelets and soups and sandwiches and even a sweet potato apple stuffing.  What?!  I have a friend who calls this "chef-ing out" and I totally chef-ed out.

Oh, and I also ate forbidden cookies.  Oops.  I pretty much ate all the cookies that were leftover from Lego Movie movie night and started referring to them as “Evil, Delicious, Sugar Rectangles of Sabotage”.  They didn't have frosting and M&Ms on them, but they definitely weren't 7 approved.  I felt guilty for a second and then I remembered that for several months last year I couldn't eat any food (zero things) and life is too short to not eat cookies.

By Wednesday night I broke completely.  I inhaled three fistfuls of M&Ms and drove to Jack in the Box where I waited in the drive-thru so long that I became delirious and ended up ordering tacos and then screaming "Nooooo!!!" as I pulled away from the speaker because I realized I had forgotten to order them without lettuce and I hate warm lettuce and now I was going to have to remove the lettuce when I got home which meant I wouldn't be able to eat them in the car and they would still be covered in lettuce essence.  I could smell the lettuce as I drove home.  The tacos were mocking me.  I ate one taco in front of the TV and then stared at the second and thought What am I doing?!  I threw it in the trash and microwaved some chicken and sweet potato apple stuffing which I should have just done in the first place.

Stop the merry-go-round, I'm getting off.  I liked the seven foods, I liked the simplicity, but I just wasn't feeling the week as a whole.  I thought I would be better at this…
 
WEEK TWO: 7 CLOTHES
Mission at the Beginning of the Week:
Embrace a reduced wardrobe by only wearing seven items of clothing for a week.
 
Recap at End of the Week:
Before choosing which seven items I would commit to for the week I counted exactly how many individual items I own, just like Jen did.  When I got to the last piece and came up with the number 250 I kind of freaked out a little even though Jen had 327 and didn’t even seem that fond of clothes.  I will say, though, that while Jen spent too much money on clothes and often left things hanging with the tags still on, most of my clothes were things I had made, bought from a thrift store, or had owned for at least a decade.  And I wear them all all the time because I love to dress up for life.  So don’t judge me, okay?  Plus I added a donation element to this week that Jen didn’t

Anyway, a few things you should know:
Jen says two pairs of shoes count as one item
Undergarments do not count toward the total
I am going to wear a bra as little as possible anyway
I'm sort of on vacation so I (unintentionally) picked the best week ever to do this

I chose:
2 pairs of jeans (same blue, different length)
Shoes (one pair navy Converse, one pair cowboy boots)
Brown tank top
Thin white button-up
Blondie t-shirt
Workout outfit
 
My list kind of looks like what a 5-year-old would pick out if she was told to choose her wardrobe for a week.  I had to look nice for two of those days (white top, cowboy boots) and the rest of the days I just wore my Blondie tee.  I counted my workout outfit as one thing.  And I allowed myself accessories.  Sue me.

So how did it go?  Well I forgot to wash my t-shirt Thursday night so I just decided not to get dressed at all on Friday.  Because I'm super dedicated. 
 
Two weeks in and I've noticed something.  This whole experiment encourages living with less, which I am all for.  I'm always trying to cut back on how much stuff I have, but I think you have to find a balance.  There are two things I have thought about while shunning excess:

1. Life is short, so if I want a cupcake I'm gonna have a freakin' cupcake.  If I want to accessorize the you-know-what out of an outfit, I'm gonna do it.  I want to enjoy life.

2. While blind excess is wasteful and unnecessary (and we should definitely be grateful for everything we have and not take anything for granted) I think it's okay to have a few things that are important to you.  For example, I'm not going to worry about having too many CDs or too many tubes of paint.  I'm just not.  And that's okay.


WEEK THREE: 7 Possessions
Mission at the Beginning of the Week:
For a split second I thought, "Wait, I can only own seven possessions?" Turns out I just had to get rid of 7 things each day.  Piece of cake!
 
Recap at the End of the Week:
Jen relieved herself of literally hundreds and hundreds of things during this month.  And instead of just donating them to Goodwill, she found real homes for a lot of them.  For example, she gave household items to a single mom starting over.

I ended up freed myself from 37 of my possessions (two over the goal), all the while imagining what it would be like to have to live in a 200 square foot tiny house like on that show Tiny Homes.  I got rid of tote bags, CDs, books, buttons (pins), more clothes, hats, random kitchen items, a few bath products, and some hair accessories I never used.  AND I did try to find some of them homes.  Of all the items I found homes for, a neglected green flower pot was my favorite.  I bought some snazzy new flowers, planted them, and left them on my neighbor's doorstep with a note that said, "From Rebecca and 7". 

WEEK FOUR: Media Fast
Mission at the Beginning of the Week:
Create a personalized media fast
 
Recap at the End of the Week:
I have a problem and it's name is Smart Phone.  So for my Media Fast week the main target was my cell phone.  Up until last year I had a regular old phone that just made calls and sent texts.  I saw how glued people were to their phones, checking them constantly, and I didn't want that to be me.  Because, see, I know myself.  I knew that if I got a phone that went on the internet it would be all over.  I was so, so right it's almost embarrassing to tell you how right I was.

Jen went for the whole month with no TV, no video game systems, no social media, no apps, no radio, no texts, and no internet.  My terms weren’t so drastic, but they maintained the spirit of cutting back where these outlets are having a negative affect.  For example, I kept playing my Wii because I waited 31 years to get one and I use it for three things: dancing, playing drums, and playing tennis.  But I did plan to cut back on my internet/phone usage and cut out extra mindless web surfing (on phone or laptop) and only use the computer for work.  I planned to limit my TV to the unwinding evening hours and I only check Facebook, email, etc. once a day. Before the week even started I unsubscribed from a ton of email and unfollowed some negative people on social media to have a clean slate.  Then Monday came.  Here’s what happened: 

Monday: Did not check my phone first thing when I woke up.  Triumph!  Checked my email and social media only once.  Had major Facebook withdrawals around 6pm.  Treated them with S'more Pop Tarts.

Tuesday: Did not check phone first thing in the morning.  Victory!  Checked email and social media once.... and then once more before bed.

Wednesday: Did not check phone first thing in the morning.  Winning!  Also, for third day in a row, did not turn on the TV until after 5pm but came up with many good reasons to check things on my phone multiple times.

Thursday: Completely forgot I was supposed to be on a media fast.

Friday:  Good morning, Facebook!

Okay, so I knew going into this that it wouldn't be so much a media fast as a fast from excessive media consumption.  I didn't like checking my phone right when I woke up in the morning, but I was addicted.  I didn't need to check Facebook 78 times a day.  I didn't need to watch Kelly & Michael while eating breakfast.  I didn't need to grab my phone every time a commercial came on while watching TV in the evening.  And, honestly, I did feel better not doing these things.  Of course, I'm typing this while watching Kelly & Michael, so it's not a perfect conversion yet. 

Favorite things about the week: Phone-free mornings and less TV/more music

Least favorite things about the week: Facebook's powerful hold on me and my phone-checking OCD


WEEK FIVE: No Waste
Mission at the Beginning of the Week:
Recycle… or something… I wasn’t really paying attention because school started for the new year.
 
Recap at the End of the Week: 
Wow, could I be any worse at following 7?  During Jen's No Waste Month, she recycled everything and composted and planted (well, maintained) a garden and shopped second hand and drove only one car.  Hey wait, I drove only one car!  Sure, I only own one car, but whatever.  And I always shop at thrift stores.  And I recycle.  And...

Yah, I pretty much sucked at this week. 
 
WEEK SIX: 7 Spending
Mission at the Beginning of the Week:
Only spend money at seven places.
 
Recap at the End of the Week:
I could have told you five days ago that I would only shop at Target and Dollar Tree, which is exactly what happened.  Yah, I pretty much did NOT suck at this week.  So there, Week 5!
 
WEEK SEVEN: Rest
Mission at the Beginning of the Week:
Rest, based on the 7th day being the day of rest.
 
Recap at the End of the Week:
I rested. 
 
Yay, I’m done!  It was a crazy ride and even though my 7 barely resembled Jen Hatmaker’s by the time it was done, it was fun to try.  I’m still all for shunning excess because I feel happier when not weighed down by unnecessary stuff, but life is about balance and that’s ultimately what 7 reinforced.
 
Now back to adventure brainstorming!