I guess if you’re changing something in your life, doing a 180° turn is completely changing to the opposite of whatever you were doing.  So, in the case of the no retail shopping challenge, I think I did a 360° turn.  Yes, I made a full circle.  When I started the challenge, I was already doing a lot of the things I’m doing now, like shopping at thrift stores and trying my best not to be wasteful.  It’s like this challenge took me on this amazing journey to keep doing what I’m doing and more of it, while adding new and better ways to shop, or much of the time, not shop.

I was asked today what my last blog post will be and if it will be this big, epic ending.  The answer is I’m not sure what the blog post will be, but it probably won’t have an epic ending, simply because it’s not ending.  The challenge will end, I will take a small break from blogging, but I don’t plan to change the way I shop.  My lifestyle has changed for the better and all of the great things I’ve learned and experienced would be wasted if I went back to my pre-challenge shopping habits.  I’m not saying I won’t buy anything new, but I won’t go to the store when I’m bored and I’ll still look for other options besides buying something new.  There’s only 5 days left in the challenge!  I really don’t need to buy anything, as the Windex fairy came to visit last night and brought me a used bottle of Windex.  He knows me well.  I am getting my new (used) camper repaired and that might involve having to buy a few parts.

No, this is not the end.  I plan to keep on with the 360° turns, but adding new levels to it.  At a recent staff retreat, they gave us Slinky’s to play with.  Our creative team is easily entertained with a spiral of plastic.  Knox was taking cool photos of the insides and I actually talked Jerod into holding one end to his eye, promising I wouldn’t pull the ‘Lucy football’ thing on him.  (It took everything in my being not to let go…)  The slinky makes me think of a 360° turn.  Keep on the journey, adding new levels, revisiting past ideas but looking at new ways to improve upon them.  Sometimes a 180 is needed, but a 360 can be good too if you don’t stop where you started.  Take it up a notch and if you do stop in the same place, start a new circle.