I Never Promised You an Organic Garden

That’s right folks, I am a quitter.  I quit the Six Items of Less Challenge yesterday.  It was my second go round, and I was just simply tired of doing it. I made it through day 24 of 30, but couldn’t finish.  I spent a week trying to talk myself out of quitting but didn’t succeed.

The reason I started doing the challenge to begin with was because I had a good time the first time I did it, and I thought I would enjoy it equally this time.  Unfortunately I did not.  I don’t know if it was the clothes I picked or the time of the year or the fact that I was sick for most of it, but I was not into it.  I realized that wearing clothes I didn’t enjoy was affecting my mood. I was spending far too much time stressing in the morning about how I could possibly make the same six items of clothes look different or make me happy about what I was wearing.  But for a long time I wouldn’t allow myself to quit.

I thought I would let people down:  At least a few people have enjoyed seeing my photos each day.

I though people would think less of me:  Who quits a challenge six days before it ends.

I though that Matt would pick on me:  He had a much harder time the first go round but didn’t quit.

I thought it meant I was a failure: I have a very hard time not being able to complete something.

But I realized that if the point of doing this was for enjoyment and I was no longer enjoying it, then it was time to stop. And I think I might have learned more from quitting than finishing.

What I learned

• My friends and family aren’t going to stop loving me just because I don’t succeed at something or if I change my mind.  They don’t like me for what I do or accomplish.  They like me for me.
• I don’t always have to be perfect.  I don’t always have to “win”.  People will not think less of me.

Personally, I think these lessons are more important than anything I might learn about my clothes or my relationship to my clothing.

Related posts

• Clothing Challenge: Half Way There (0)
• Clothing Challenge (4)
• Six Items or Less Challenge Again! (2)
• Clothing Challenge: What comes next (1)
• Clothing Challenge: One third of the way through (0)

This entry was posted on Monday, December 12th, 2011 at 6:01 pm and is filed under Six Items or Less. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.