As a 20 something year old professional living in Melbourne, all I want to do is spend my hard earned cash on things that seemingly make me happy – namely, food & fashion. A dangerous combination. Brunching with friends on the weekends is one of my favourite past times. I love the smell of the perfect cappuccino. I love pork belly. I love pancakes. I love burgers with brioche buns and the occasional late night kebab. I am obsessed with ASOS. It helps that I never buy full priced items on the site, but I rationalise spending obscene amounts of money on ASOS by telling myself that it’s OK because I’m buying from the “SALE” section and therefore I’m “saving” money. That’s the same logic I used when I bought over 30 pairs of various heels one year as an undergraduate student. “I bought them on sale so really, I’m saving money!” Alas, I am not. I make myself sick.
I recently went to the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) in Tasmania, Australia. I’m not really what some may deem the “Arty Farty” type (although I did study a Bachelor of Arts degree), but I found the experience somewhat life-changing.
Counting the Rice presented by the Marina Abramović Institute (MAI) is an exercise that requires participants to detach themselves from their watches and phones, wear a lab coat and noise cancelling headphones to count rice in a communal setting. The duration of the activity is limitless. It sounds simple. I went in not really knowing what to think. It felt a little strange. I was in a lab coat. Counting rice. WHY? I started counting both the rice and black legumes that a staff member scooped up and placed in front of me, but suddenly found myself watching the people around me. They were separating the legumes from the rice first. So I automatically did the same without even really thinking about it. I started forming little groups of 10 pieces of rice, using the pencil on my table to help herd the rice grains together. I looked up. The woman next to me was watching. She then proceeded to use her pencil to group her rice grains together too. WHY? Then I began thinking about originality, not following the crowd and not being fearful of doing something wrong because you’re so afraid of failing. I kept counting the rice. My mind wandered to thinking about my purpose in life. As I sat there, counting my rice, with absolutely no concept of time in a room filled with people also counting rice, I tried to think about what my purpose in life truly is. Am I doing what I’m supposed to be doing? Am I passionate about my career right now? I didn’t come to a solid answer for any of those questions but as soon as I decided to stop counting the rice, my mind felt clear. I felt like I could concentrate and be more present. It was as if the act of doing something relatively simple repeatedly with time not dictating my life had forced me to be more in the moment. When I went back to the locker room to collect my bag and coat, I realised that I probably had been in the rice counting room for easily over 30 minutes with my friend, left alone with just my thoughts and some rice.
“Unconditional love is everything… My purpose is to lift the human spirit.” – Marina Abramović
I still don’t know what my purpose is, but I do know that I want to be more present in life. Less reliant on my phone which has become my third arm and more focused on being fully present in conversations, with a better level of overall concentration. I want my mind to be less crowded by distractions. I’m also reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying by Marie Kondo to help declutter and organise my home environment – to again, free myself from distractions.
So here’s to Day 1 – The Beginning. I’ll be using this blog as a weekly journal and document my progress in attempting to break my spendy habits. Mum always said, “You have too many clothes and shoes! Why do you buy so much?” She’s right. It’s time that I use the existing clothes and shoes in my wardrobe more and spend less.
Until we meet again,
– Spendy Habits
spendyhabits 