My New Year’s Resolution

2015 has arrived, so it’s time for some quintessential water cooler talk: New Year’s Resolutions.

I know many hate the resolutions ritual. It’s easy to believe that resolutions set us up for inevitable failure or disappointment. I understand the sentiment. Plenty of my resolutions have fizzled. In 1999, I vowed to get my drivers license — but it didn’t happen until 2005. (PS: Since moving to New York, my license has since expired — which means this is a recurring resolution for 2015.)

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But let’s look at the positive: New years are ideal for organizing your goals in a concrete, trackable way. They show us how far we have come, and what we still want to accomplish.

For the past 20 years, I’ve hand-written my resolutions — and I still have them all. In 1998, my resolutions included a goal to be published in a newspaper. (I landed an internship at the Miami Herald that summer.)

In 2011, I vowed to read 40 books that year. (I read 35, so I consider it completed.)

Last year, I gave up my daily Diet Coke habit and switched to seltzer — although I’ll still have soda at a party or when I’m on vacation. (I live dangerously.)

In 2015, I’d like to eat more vegetables. Visit more museums. Volunteer more. Renew my drivers license.

But my most important resolution is about giving something up — specifically, shopping. For the first three months of the year, I’ll be abstaining from clothing purchases — including my beloved consignment.

The goal? To enhance my creativity with the clothes I already own. (Saving money is a secondary — but anticipated — windfall.)

For many of us, it is easy to fall into the trap of “keeping up with the Joneses.”  Add a daily fashion blog into the equation, and it can be even easier to lose perspective. Clothes may make the man — but for now, I have plenty. Not only will this be good for my over-stuffed closet — it will be great for the blog’s creative process. (Expect to see recreations of repeat outfits and more alterations of existing pieces.)

Have you ever taken a break from shopping? I’d love to hear your thoughts — and about YOUR new year’s resolution.