Shopping is fun. There I said it. Some may balk at the idea of shopping for a new top or a new pair of shoes, but I love it. There’s just something about trying something on and it just looks right. Then I do the whole “Do I actually have the money for this or am I going to be living off ramen and water for the next week and a half?” thing. I could tell you the rest of my thought process, but you’d just be disappointed. Something I’d never really considered before was how my shopping habit were hurting other people. Yeah, they put a pretty hefty dent into my bank account, but I hadn’t stopped to think about the very real consequences that others face because of my decisions. This week really helped to show how everything has consequences whether we choose to acknowledge it or not and ignoring the problem doesn’t help anyone or fix anything. 

This week I contributed to the learning environment by discussing with my groupmates about the articles we were assigned, and I think that we all gained a better understanding of why consumers need to be mindful about where they spend their money because of how it affects people in developing countries and how it affects the environments they live in. We also discussed aesthetic obsolescence and how humility in design can help us retain some of the aspects of the fast-paced fashion environment while also being mindful of how many clothes end up in our landfills (and other countries as well) that negatively impacts our environment. 

My main takeaway from this week was the idea of designing for the short-term by minimizing the impact that production of an item has on the environment and on people. I really liked this idea because I think it provides a path for humans to still be innovative and creative while also limiting how much we damage our surroundings. Another takeaway that I had was the idea that simply attributing one cause to environmental degradation is problematic in that it shifts blame entirely to one group or entity instead of acknowledging that we all have a part to play in environmental destruction. 

This week we were assigned to do ten minutes of mindfulness as compared to five the week before. I struggled quite a bit with honing my focus and not getting distracted. Last week was stressful and I think that had something to do with my lack of attentiveness towards my mindfulness practice. After the game on Saturday I was less stressed, so it was easier to focus and really engage with the practice that we were assigned. I chose to do one of the music mindfulness practice that we did previously and I just kind of sat and focused while listening to soft music in the background. I really think that this practice is helping me to be less stressed and is helping me to redirect some of my stressors/frustrations in a healthy way.