My apologies – my last post was depressingly badly written, but it only reflects the anguished feelings I have been feeling due to the excess of… well, everything.

Did you know that today, in just one day, we receive more information than a wealthy Parisian citizen, in the nineteenth century, would receive in their entire life? That’s a lot, and there is always something new coming, a new TV show, a new book, a new flavour of filled chocolate that I must try today (damn you, whoever keeps adding pistachio to everything). The slow living movement, the underconsumption trend people are talking about; those are only our defence systems trying to fight the modern world that needs you to stay alert so you can keep spending more money.

Today I didn’t leave my house. I could have gone anywhere, but I was too afraid to go out because every opportunity I see to buy things is an opportunity I don’t waste. In the end this is only a pathetic attempt to fill the gaps of my childhood, a time where I had to buy what was cheaper, where I could only have something cool if it was on sale (to this day I can’t control myself when I pass by a shelf of promotions). The funny thing is that, even then, I didn’t treasure what I used to buy.

Hence my new life philosophy: what you have must be in sight. For the last 6 months I’ve tried to achieve that, and that’s why the bathroom corridor is full of crap, I’m putting there all the things I’m trying to throw away.

Anne Rios

amodafala@gmail.com