The Only New Year’s Resolution You’ll Need This Year
You guys, this is a long one! So, save it for a cozy evening or a moment of procrastination in your workday
If you’re writing your New Year’s resolutions down this year, here’s one that I live by, and that could be the only one you’ll ever need. The next time you’re considering a purchase - whether it’s a new piece of clothing, groceries, beauty products, or gadgets, it doesn’t matter - ask yourself where will this end once I’m done with it. It’s a powerful question because the answer is rarely simple and it will make you ask yourself more questions and really think about what you’re buying. Let’s see how it works on an example.
So, I’m standing in the grocery store, holding a can in my hand. Cans are good, I think to myself, metal can be fully recycled. To make sure I’m right I turn the can to read the label. It says both ALU and PET which means this is not just a metal can. ALU stands for aluminum which is a metal, and PET stands for polyethylene terephthalate which is essentially plastic. This realization makes my conclusion that this is a fully recyclable product completely wrong. It also makes me return that can to the shelf and choose something else.
Asking yourself where will the product end once you’re done with it helps you learn about how things are made which is a crucial thing to understand if you want to live more sustainably. We can’t be responsible consumers if we ignore that and just assume things will be recycled and everything will be shiny and sparkly again. It’s not that simple. So try using my question and finding the whole answer. Once you have it you can make a responsible purchase. Or not, you know. This question also helps us buy so much less which in my opinion is the number one thing we all need to do.
And now, an outpour of emotions. Drumroll, please!
This newsletter has brought me so much joy this year. Thank you so much for supporting it, reading it every week, and, most of all, sharing your thoughts and comments. I love reading them, I answer every one of them so, please, keep doing that. To deepen this great relationship we already have I’m starting a Substack Chat! It’s a feature in the Substack App where we can discuss whatever we want. To join you’ll need to install the app on your phone. It’s available both for iOS and Android. If you’re subscribed you’ll get a notification once I set up a thread which will be later today. If you don’t get the app by that time, don’t worry, you can always join later.
The first thread will be about things that inspire us. I invite you to post things that have inspired you whether you’ve seen them online or in real life. You can write about it, elaborate, or just post a photo of the thing that sparked something in you without context. It’s a safe space. And to give you an idea of what to post, I decided to go first with an extensive list of things that have inspired me this year. They’re mostly mundane and probably very boring to many people, but I loved them. I hope you’ll find them inspiring, too.
Books I loved
People with great style I started following on Instagram
Chloe King, brand relations lead at Amazon’s Luxury Stores
Amanda Murray, personal stylist and brand consultant
Sophie Fontanel, icon
Words that cracked me up
The Year I Spent With My Butt Out by Laura Reilly for The Cut
This tweet by Jerry Saltz
Lucky-go-happy by David Sedaris for The New Yorker
Great food/drinks that I ate/drank and/or cooked/fermented
Random things I saved on Instagram
The most fun thing I’ve written this year
This newsletter, by far. It’s something completely different than anything I’ve written before. It’s personal and comfort-zone-shattering. It has nothing to do with traditional journalism which is probably my second favorite part of it. The first one is building a community that enjoys these prosaic topics that we’re lucky enough to discuss carelessly. Make sure to join our chat so we can continue this fun and loving relationship!