Happy New Year. According to some. Not all. Some people celebrate their New Year on different days throughout the year (as discussed here.) But if January 1st is your go-to New Year, then I hope it is happy. I hope that all of your resolutions stick, and you reach all your personal goals for the year, and I hope we don’t all die or lose our rights or our healthcare or the ability to vote or aren’t swallowed whole by the rising sea levels or tornados in places there shouldn’t be tornados. Truly. I hope that we all survive the next year, and at least the three years that follow. I’m not feeling confident about this, but I’ve been wrong before. So, cheers to being wrong! And speaking of healthcare, here’s a special cheers to Luigi Mangione, who I do not believe did anything wrong (literally I think he is a fall guy,) but cheers to what he represents for a lot of us. Cheers to raising awareness of social injustice, class warfare, and the ruling class of oligarchs and billionaires. Let them eat cake for once. It’s been awhile.
Which brings me to my point. My New Year’s resolution for 2025 is to be inconvenienced. I know this is a weird goal. Who chooses to be inconvenienced? What red-blooded American would choose such a life, when we can get by just fine by being lazy and wasteful as long as it comes fast, cheap and easy? And that, my friends, is why I am making this my goal. To be better. To stop giving the money I work hard for to people that don’t deserve it, like billionaires and greedy corporations. To stop being part of an ever-growing problem of waste, pollution, and throw away society. Also, on principle (if that all wasn’t principled enough,) I want to contribute as little as personally possible to a Trump economy. I know I am one single person that already shops/spends/consumes very little, and I know it won’t make a difference, but it will to me. I would love to watch his economy crash and burn, even if it meant losing everything. Even if everyone lost everything. To watch that piece of shit fail so grandly that even his most loyal cult members couldn’t make excuses for him (and remember, he will have the house and senate too, so you can’t blame the Democrats anymore), to watch his supporters turn on him one by one as they lose everything too, because he wasn’t the “economic” savior they hoped for (although we all know it actually had nothing to do with the economy), to see us all march right on into another great depression on his watch and to be able to say, “we told you so,” at every turn, would be one of my greatest joys.
Unfortunately, people don’t like to be inconvenienced- especially Americans- and all the people that swear they will buy nothing in 2025, or during his term, will likely forget by March. The fun thing about being neurodivergent is that I won’t forget, like I haven’t forgotten about how shitty Hobby Lobby or Chick Fil-A are. So, if we do march right on into another great depression, it won’t be because we all kept our money out of a Trump economy. But a girl can dream. And a girl can spend her dollars consciously. For the next year, I will spend as little as possible, and when I do buy something, it will be secondhand or from small businesses owned by women and marginalized communities. If I can’t find what I need there, I will shop in person at Target, knowing that they do not donate to hate groups or fascism. I will not have a box shipped to my house with one tiny item in it, knowing how wasteful the packaging and the fuel is. I will not buy clothes unless I can try them on (again, likely secondhand,) because so many of those online returns end up in the landfills anyway. I will not just buy something and say, “eh, if I don’t like it, I can just return it.” Because that is even more waste- the plastic bags for returns, the return fuel costs, etc. And I will not shop through Amazon unless I *absolutely* have to. Because fuck Jeff Bezos basically.
If I decide I want a cute shirt that says, “Deny, Defend, Depose,” I can make it with a thrifted tee, or with something from my closet. If I want a shirt that says, “Punch a Nazi,” I can iron on some cute little letters on an old tank top. If I want a new book, I can get it from the library, trade, or buy used. Someone said something the other day that I haven’t stopped thinking about, and it was basically this: think about everything you buy ending up in a landfill one day, and plan accordingly. So, if not wanting to support billion-dollar corporations wasn’t reason enough, this is. In case you haven’t noticed, the earth is fucked. I wish I could make more people care about this. I wish I could make people with children or grandchildren care about this. Like, if you chose to have kids, do your part to make the earth sustainable. For them. Leave something for them, that isn’t having to live in a gas mask or some shit. I don’t know how to make people care, but I wish I did. Or I wish I could be like the majority of people and just not care. Just live in my little bubble and pretend everything is OK and not pay attention to anything. It is hard caring so much. It’s like in Wicked, when Elphaba says, do you think I want to care this much? I felt that. I care so much that it makes me so angry at the injustice of it all.
This last election broke me. Something inside changed, and I knew I would never be the same again. This is actually the first thing I have written in months. I just couldn’t. I had so much to say and just… couldn’t. I’m starting again. But I know it’s different. My writing isn’t buoyant and hopeful like it used to be. Maybe one day I’ll find that person again, but I don’t think so. I am surrounded by people that just don’t give a shit about anyone other than themselves (like, 77 million, not counting the people that couldn’t even care enough to vote.) In 2016, I was devastated, but still managed to find hope, and picked myself up and believed that good would prevail. It turns out, it didn’t. And it doesn’t. And it won’t. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. And I guess that’s where I’m at now. Angry at what could have been. Angry that I care more about people than they care about themselves. Angry that I care about future generations that aren’t even mine, or that I won’t be alive to see. Angry that people don’t take shit seriously and that I do. Angry that people don’t fucking get it, and angry that I truly believe that my stepson’s generation will be the last generation to have an earth that is habitable, and my nieces and nephews will have nothing, and that 77 million people were like, eh, it's cool, I want the FUCKING RAPIST in charge because I think it’s going to be better for my bank account EVEN THOUGH there is plenty of data that shows that the economy ALWAYS does better under Democrats and that the Republicans fuck it up every. Single. Time and even if it means turning over all the EPA regulations that protect the literal environment. (In case you didn’t know, the water temps have reached the critical temperatures that we were trying to avoid, and that basically means we can’t reverse the damage at this point, but yeah, go ahead and vote for cheaper gas even though the president doesn’t control that AND even though the Democrats try to pass bills that limit price gouging, but some of you think you are closer to being a billionaire than homeless and you aren’t, but you still lick the fucking boots of the people that abuse you.) I don’t get it. I really don’t. And I don’t get why I even care anymore, aside from that’s who I am. But I am not the same person I was in October.
So why, then, should I inconvenience myself this year? Why is that my goal for 2025? To try. To spend my money consciously. To know that when it all falls apart, that I did my best. To consume less. To waste less. To put less plastics in the oceans and less garbage in the landfills. To know that the dollars I do spend will go to small businesses, and that I can support the people that actually need it- not some billionaire. To know that when the economy crashes, that I saved every penny I could and that I moved my money out of banks because the incoming administration wants to get rid of the FDIC, and that in this day and age we should all be done banking with big banks anyways and using credit unions. I’m inconveniencing myself so that maybe I can convince someone else to do the same- even if it just means waiting to order something from Amazon until they have more than one item, so the box is full. Maybe someone reads this and decides to do a No Buy 2025 too, just for the challenge.
I don’t think this will be easy. Just like everyone else, I am used to things coming fast and coming when I want them. But it feels so gross. All the consuming we do is so gross. There’s a documentary out right now called “Buy NOW” and I haven’t watched it because I think I will punch the screen, but maybe I should. Maybe we all should. I love the idea of living someplace where Amazon doesn’t exist, where there isn’t a mall, where you have what you have and are grateful for it. I may not be an influencer, but guess what, you don’t need that thing that the internet tells you you need. You don’t have to change the silhouette of your jeans every six months because someone on the internet told you your favorite pants are out of style. I think about this a lot. Like. Growing up, we all had maybe three pairs of jeans. Clothes cost more, and were better quality and we maybe got a few items a year. Now, all we do is consume. Just shop, shop, shop, shop, toss, toss, toss. Its… icky. Again, I’m not a big shopper, I have never been a big shopper, I get a few things a year, but I can do better and buy less. I’ll learn to cook. Write. Something that isn’t overconsumption, unless it’s reading. Overconsuming books I feel is OK. I’ve already read one this year.
It’s not just the shopping part that will be hard. Finding ways to reduce my footprint. Reusing bags. Finding bulk food items. Not buying things in plastic. Which is almost impossible because everything comes in plastic. Researching who I am supporting with my dollars isn’t convenient either. And I can’t always do the right thing. The bad guys still always win in the end anyway, they still own most of the things. The movie theaters. The hardware stores. But I can do better. I can travel to blue states. I can make gifts and arts and crafts. I can make cards, instead of buying them from the store. I’m sure I’ll find more ways to inconvenience myself as the year goes on, and plan on documenting the journey. Maybe I create rules. Maybe I will find space for flexibility. I don’t know. I’ve never set out on a journey like this- to buy nothing (or as little as possible) for a year, or to be inconvenienced by shopping in person instead of online, or to wait for the things I can only find online. Maybe it will build character. Maybe a year will go by, and I’ll be like, well that was stupid. I guess we will see.
But for now, the social justice warrior in me feels like this is one of the most important things I can do this year- for myself, for humanity- even if humanity doesn’t care about me or its own self. So here we go. Wish me luck.
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Nice to read you again, been awhile
Think I’m doing my part as far as a footprint is concerned, def more than the vast majority of Americans