persimmonteas

[persimmonteas]

The most sustainable thing any of us can do is...BUY LESS NEW STUFF. And while that sounds simple, I know that it is much more difficult than it sounds, right? As we have been dissecting in this summer's podcast episodes about brand and branding...most of our shopping is wrapped up our emotions.

Breaking the habit is going to be hard work for just about everyone reading this post. And it doesn't help that that the retail machine keeps rolling on, coming up with new ways to get you to spend money and give them a little bit more of your paycheck every week:

★ Expanding into categories like cosmetics, home goods, intimates, and activewear. A few years into the fast fashion era, brands realized there were only so many clothes, accessories, and shoes they could sell you, so they needed to add some new things to sell you if they were ever going to be able to maintain that sales growth year after year.

★ Reminding you that you needed a new outfit for every wedding, party, birthday, vacation, and event.

★ Going hard on holiday stuff: from Halloween underwear to Christmas socks to 4th of July swimsuits, brands are constantly creating new reasons to shop.

Our brains are hardwired to want rewards. Shopping is the easy way to satisfy your brain, but there are other things you can do that have nothing to do with buying stuff. And they may have a more positive impact on your day-to-day life and your own well-being!

I think sometimes we are super hard on ourselves when we break our commitment to skip impulse shopping. And then we feel guilty, embarrassed, angry at ourselves. You know what I'm talking about here. It turns into a cycle of shame, not unlike diet culture. One thing I have learned personally is that bad feelings just lead to more shopping and then, even more bad feelings. Be gentle on yourself. It's progress, not perfection. And by thinking about these things and working to make changes in your habits, you deserve a pat on the back for starting the work.

I'm one person who is limited to sharing info into a few rectangles, so I'm definitely missing a lot of ideas for things to do instead of shopping. Share your ideas in the comments!

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BUREAU BETAK / JACQUEMUS, LE PAYSAN

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my god the thing really is to love life even when you have no stomach for it

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2025

REMAIN BRAVE.

skate flat stones across the river.

make my home a sanctuary, a shelter, a welcome resting place.

learn the first names and favorite foods of neighbors.

keep the windows open as long as warmth allows.

ask myself: will it make a good memory?

earlier mornings, longer walks.

remember I am not without my own seasons.

write recipes on paper. print photos out for framing. seek the tangible, the homemade.

speak out about harm when I see it done. leave room for learning, but never complacency.

one long summer drive to myself. an overnight somewhere new if possible.

let the candles burn through winter.

joy is not made to be a crumb, but a feast. arrive fork and knife in hand.

BE HOPEFUL, BUT ALSO IN ACTION.

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Georgia Gerber: A Promise Kept (1999)

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Art by @elektrakute on IG 💖

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David Wojnarowicz

"Silence = Death" (1990) by Rosa Von Praunheim

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I recently purchased Procreate Dreams, so I decided to animate this illustration I made while I was in Italy ✨

Enjoy

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wish I was a little bunny eating a dandelion in a field right now

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"I'm just a girl", "girl math", "girl dinner", "divine feminine energy", "bimbocore", "clean girl", "girl's girl", "girlfriend brain" SHUT UPPP!!! SHUTT THE FUCKKKK UPPPPPP !!!!

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in law school, my mom took me to this stress retreat because my family was vaguely aware i was a suicide risk. and they didnt allow phones, so i brought this huge bag of books. and one of the options for "destressing" was this fake cave grotto thing, where they'd decorated a room to make it look exactly like an underground cave and the air was like -10 degrees, but there was a like 4ft deep pool in the middle that was kept super super hot, so you would just switch between the hot and cold. and they would bring you an endless supply of this weird syrupy drink thing that was like super caffeinated and tasted like sugar and mint. and so i spent multiple days sitting half submerged in this fake grotto drinking mystery liquid and reading. and i have to be honest i really did feel less stressed

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Success is one person’s life being better because of what we do, shared Elizabeth Holmes, the founder and CEO of medical device and technology company Theranos. “Now it’s about doing it again and again for more and more people."  Read more insights on Twitter from her Stanford GSB View From The Top talk: stanford.io/1qEOogA #GSBvftt

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it’s not “am I good enough to do it?”, it’s “do I like it enough to be bad at it?”

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i like to pretend i already died and asked god to send me back to earth so i can swim in lakes again and see mountains and get my heart broken and love my friends and cry so hard in the bathroom and go grocery shopping 1,000 more times. and that i promised i would never forget the miracle of being here