Give It Up!

What do you do without thinking about or thinking that you need it? I  eat meat, go shopping, and watch TV, along with many other unnecessary habits. While going through the shelves of my local library looking for books on voluntary simplicity I found my way to Mary Carlomagno’s Give It Up! My Year of Learning to Live Better with Less. This book is more of a challenge than anything, although it is a fun, quick read.

The author’s premise is to give up certain things each month, in the “lent-style” of her childhood. During the course of one year she selectively deprives herself of alcohol, shopping, elevators, newspapers, cell phones, dining out, TV, taxis, coffee, cursing, and multitasking. The most important lesson to take away from this book, in my opinion, is that we have a lot of habits that we rarely think of and which shape our lives.

In my web-surfing, I found an interview with another author, Judith Wright, in which she called these habits “soft addictions:” socially acceptable behaviors that are basically time-wasters conducted in the name of helping you fulfill, or fill up, your life.

While my soft addictions are different from Mary Carlomagno’s, they do kill a lot of my time. My biggest problems are probably internet-surfing, tv, multitasking, and food consumption. I find I feel the most depressed when I have only been feeding my soft addictions and not actually integrating with the rest of society. On these days its a relief to go to work instead of sit at home and twiddle my thumbs.

What are some of your soft addictions? Have you ever tried to go without them?

P.S.: For a more in-depth look at the soft addiction of shopping, check out Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping by Judith Line.