My Wardrobe, Myself

Lessons from a Power Failure

Debbie Roes

February 10, 2018

Yesterday morning, the power went out in my apartment and didn’t come back on until late in the afternoon. In today’s post, I share my thoughts about that experience, what I learned from it, and how I plan to take these lessons forward in my life.

It’s a strange feeling when the power goes out. Everything just kind of … stops. It’s not a common occurrence around here, but it happens often enough that I wasn’t too rattled by it. Usually, the power comes back on after about an hour, so I decided to read a book I’d been meaning to finish and just wait. When close to two hours had passed, I began to panic a little bit. I didn’t want my entire day to go down the proverbial tubes. I called the power company to find out what was going on and learned that city workers drilling into concrete nearby had damaged some electrical equipment. It wasn’t expected to be fixed until at least 3 p.m.

lessons from a power failure

The Best Laid Plans…

I had planned to do many things yesterday, including writing and publishing a blog post. I was understandably annoyed at the turn of events, but it actually ended up being one of the best days I’ve had in a long time. Instead of raging against something I couldn’t control, I decided to just go with it. What I didn’t expect was how quiet and peaceful it would be. All of the normal hustle and bustle of my neighbors running appliances and milling around was gone. I felt like I could breathe more easily and I gave myself permission to remove any expectations around what I would accomplish.

What Information is Essential?

Debbie Roes

12 comments

February 1, 2018

Last week, I shared that my word for 2018 is “essential.” This word is already making quite an impact on my life and I suspect that I will be writing a number of posts on its influence as the year progresses. Today I will address the subject of information and what is and isn’t essential. I actually started an essay on a different topic yesterday, but I had an experience last night that pushed me to write and publish this one instead. I suspect that I’m not alone in my struggle with information overload, and I hope that perhaps we can help each other develop a more balanced and peaceful (my themes for the past two years…) relationship with the input that is coming into our brains and our lives.

information overload

Too Many Articles!

I first wrote about the subject of information overload back in 2014, and I have since made a lot of progress in cutting back on how much information I consume. I no longer subscribe to magazines and I have reduced my email and blog subscriptions dramatically. I stopped using the Pocket app for saving articles, as I had amassed hundreds of articles that I never got around to reading. Unfortunately, those shifts mostly just put a Band-Aid on the problem as opposed to actually solving it. I still have far too many browser tabs open and too many emails in my in-box at any given time. When I take the time to close tabs and clean out my email queue, I often end up saving articles into a browser folder that I have labeled “To Read.” Much like my Pocket queue, this folder has expanded to hold a large number of articles, probably verging upon a hundred as of yesterday.

Striving for Peace and Recognizing What’s Essential

Debbie Roes

17 comments

January 24, 2018

I enjoyed hearing from some of you regarding your insights and lessons from 2017. It’s definitely not necessary to answer a lot of questions in order to come to these understandings, but I wanted to provide resources for those who feel they benefit from structured introspection. I find that it often helps me to have questions to ponder, although I agree that taking on the task of answering fifty questions can be overwhelming!

Today’s post is all about yearly themes, having a word or phrase that directs our focus and our growth for a given year. I highlight a few resources to help you select your word, if you have not yet done so but would like to. I also debrief how I fared with my 2017 theme, “peace,” and share the word I have chosen for 2018 and why.

Reaching out for a more peaceful life…

Why Select a Word/Theme for the Year?

I started selecting yearly themes back in 2014 during the second year of “Recovering Shopaholic.” Prior to that, I always wrote a long “laundry list” of goals I wanted to accomplish over the course of the year, many of which remained undone by the time December rolled around. While I still believe that goals can be powerful and effective, I no longer write a lengthy list of them each January. Instead, I select a word (well, I actually chose two words the first year, which I don’t recommend…) that encapsulates either the key aspect of my life I want to work on that year or the primary feeling I want to create in my emotional experience.

It’s Not Too Late to Debrief 2017 – and 7 Ways to Do It

Debbie Roes

18 comments

January 17, 2018

Although we’re now over two weeks into January, it’s still not too late to debrief last year and learn some valuable lessons to carry forward into 2018. In today’s post, I share some resources for how to do this, as well as provide a glimpse into my own yearly review process and what I learned from it.

How to Debrief Last Year

How to Close Out a Year on the Right Note

There are many rituals we can use to help us powerfully close out each year and gain knowledge for better navigating our path into the next year. Of course, there is nothing particularly magical about the year end and we can do these processes at any time. However, there is a sense of closure as we move from one calendar year to the next that makes the time around New Year’s a great time for us to take stock. Our birthdays are also meaningful times to take inventory and set goals, as I wrote about in 2010, 2013, and 2016.

If you’d like to take some time now to debrief 2017, below are some tips from my fellow bloggers on how to do so. These processes range from a handful of questions to consider to as many as fifty, and they also vary in terms of their scope and approach. I’m including a variety of options because we’re all different and what works well for one person may either be overkill or not enough for another. Also, feel free to pick and choose which questions you wish to answer. Just because someone has presented a long list of debrief questions for us, it doesn’t mean that we need to take them all on.

Welcome to Full Life Reflections!

Debbie Roes

36 comments

January 7, 2018

Welcome to my new blog, “Full Life Reflections”! In this initial post, I will share what this blog is about and what you can expect to read here in the coming weeks and months. Also, if you were previously a reader of my last blog, “Recovering Shopaholic,” I will let you know why I decided to start a new blog and how this one will be different from what you were used to from me. Regardless of whether we have crossed paths before, I hope you will find “Full Life Reflections” interesting, thought-provoking, and helpful.

Welcome to Full Life Reflections!

How Did “Full Life Reflections” Come About?

From 2013 through 2017, I wrote the blog “Recovering Shopaholic,” which focused on my journey to trade my full closet for a full life. I had struggled with compulsive shopping for over three decades and wanted to find a way to create balance in both my wardrobe and my shopping. The blog served as a means for me to explore the reasons for my maladaptive shopping behavior and ongoing wardrobe management issues, while correspondingly connecting with others with similar challenges. It also fostered accountability as I worked to clean out my closet, adhere to a clothing budget, and discover a personal style that resonated for me at my current stage of life.

Over the four years that I wrote “Recovering Shopaholic,” I made a lot of progress in terms of my wardrobe, shopping, and style, yet I continued to struggle with the “full life” side of the equation. I found that dedicating so much time and attention toward my wardrobe had become counterproductive and had begun to stall my recovery process. Accordingly, I decided to pause the blog in February 2017 and take some time to evaluate whether or not I wanted to continue blogging, as well as the shape any further writing I would do might take. I spent quite a few months mired in confusion in this regard but finally gained clarity that my next step would be this new blog, “Full Life Reflections.”