With the new year upon us, I would like to take a minute to review a few of my favorites from last year. I'm talking about gifts. For me, 2016 brought a new appreciation for life. I started to look at things differently. I began searching for used items when in need of something or looking to rent/borrow when at all possible. I found myself looking into what books are at the local library, rather than buying the new that I wanted to read straight from Amazon. I also initiated a hold-out period when wanting to buy something. Basically, I put it on a list and after few weeks, if I still wanted the item, I would then consider buying it.
For my birthday, I received a "used" TRX suspension trainer from my sister. And I was delighted!! My sister thought it was so weird and actually mentioned she felt strange giving me something that was used, but I quickly let her know that it was exactly what I wanted. Apparently, my brother-in-law bought it a few years ago when he was certain that he would use it for his work-outs. I think the TRX only saw the light of day a handful of times, before returning back to the box and getting placed somewhere in their garage. I had wanted a TRX to add to my home gym, since I had always liked using them at the high-cost gym I used to attend. I did some research and realized that these are actually quite expensive and was quite sure that I wouldn't get one as a gift. But gloriously, my sister had one laying around that they weren't using. A) It was free for them! B) It allowed them to get rid of something just taking up space C) I felt great about it since I wasn't purchasing something newly made and contributing to the consumeristic status and waste. I still smile every time I see it and use it. And I definitely think that I have already used it more than it was previously.
Then Christmas rolled around. Call me crazy, but all I really wanted was a composter. A couple of years ago, my mother had gotten one and I gave her so much grief about it. At that point, I thought it was so strange, but yet this was before I developed my minimalism/sustainablistic attitude. Over the past couple months, I had realized how much green waste we had been throwing away and it really began to irk me. Plus, since we had started a garden, I began to realize how valuable this "waste" was and wanted to do something about it. I knew just who to ask. Like mother, like daughter right? Well Mama Santa listened and placed a beautiful tumbling composter beneath (well actually next to since it didn't fit) the tree. It was perfect! I couldn't wait to start using it.
Although most people would consider me crazy for being excited about a used TRX and a composter, I was tremendously excited. But I know that you guys would understand my excitement and therefore I couldn't help but share this with you. Who else has gotten this excited about something so utterly odd? Please share so we can appreciate and relish this together.
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