Finders Keepers

Today I’m taking a one-way flight to Chiang Mai.

An Adventure, a Spiritual Journey, a Quarter Life Crisis come late, a Mid Life Crisis come early, a Gap Year for Geriatrics, a Road to Nowhere, a Road to Somewhere, Escapism, Courage or Naivety. Whatever you want to call it, I’m putting myself in the Lost & Found bucket of life and doing good stuff to be a better me, just this time on a new continent.

Doing Good Stuff To Be A Better Me

For those who haven’t been reading these ramblings from the beginning, this blog started six months ago following a random day of mindfulness when a flip switched in my head and I pressed the reset button on my priorities.

From that day on, I’ve been trying to do good stuff to be a better me by holding up a metaphorical mirror, reassessing my thoughts, reigning in my Squanderlust and tweaking my actions to make positive little changes to my life and the world around me.

I’ve quit a ten-year long ladder climb in the corporate world, sold more or less everything I own and dived headfirst into meditation, introspection and mindfulness.

One thing I’ve thought and written about quite a lot is the C word – consumerism, and in particular fashion. And now that I’m stood in front of my colour-coordinated closets trying to select a few precious items to fill my backpack wardrobe, this subject is back all up in my cranium.

Whether we’re wearing Prada, Primark or People Tree, we’re all involved in a trade that isn’t fair, in sending millions of tonnes of magical thread to landfill every year and keeping up the demand for brands to make more.

Vote With Your Wallet

There are so many miniature acts of mindfulness we can apply to changing up the fashion game and it starts with disrobing our ignorance.

We can’t blame the brands for their marketig wizardry, claiming to be the harmless victims of consumerist brainwashing. We can’t shrug our shoulders and say that’s just how it is. And we can’t sit back and watch fast fashion get even faster.

The power is in the hands of every single consumer and it’s down to us to make change happen.

And it doesn’t have to mean relinquishing the love we have for our wardrobe wonders; we can quench our thirst for newness in ways that are good for our planet and our purse.

There are brands out there that are all about using up existing resources, or taking something old and making it new again and there are plenty vintage boutiques and charity shops helping to turn one person’s junk into another person’s treasure.

These are the shops and brands that deserve our vote.

Drive-by Donations

So partly because I’m sick of trying to flog stuff, partly because it’s nice to give presents – especially to strangers, but mostly because I’d love people to share my joy for secondhand threads, I’ve left a scattering of my once-loved items around the city of Liverpool.

There are frocks, tops, bobble hats, bags and books hidden in charity shops, vintage boutiques and I even left a few on park benches and random doorsteps.

They’re free to whoever finds them and all I hope for, as well as finding happy new homes, is that they make people want to stop, think and vote with their wallet.

Finders Keepers