Don’t Just Say it, Say it Your Way

By Michael Beck

Have you ever gone shopping and suddenly felt overwhelmed by the mountains of stuff to choose from? Turned down an aisle and half tripped over some seductive new display right in your face? Then, while paying the damages at the end of the month, been exasperated by the ‘special offers’ that always flutter out of the envelopes along with the bills?

Welcome to Consumer Nation, Land of the Product (made in China) and Home of the Consumer (designed by Madison Ave.). If you chafe at this over-commercialization, we at Postconsumers completely sympathize; we exist to help you say no to these excesses. Let us state up front that we have no quarrel with marketing and material comfort per se – a healthy society needs them. What’s unhealthy is an economic model that devours all other values – such as downtime with family or clean air and water – in the name of unlimited growth.

Our solution is to empower you: to offer you support in moving beyond the consumerist mindset – and to do it in a way that expresses your uniqueness. Everything we do (this blog for example) serves only to nudge you onto your own path towards that sweet spot where you can finally say, “This is enough to be satisfied.” The best guideposts to get you there are those you choose to fit your own values and character. What might they look like? Check out our home page for the self-definitions contributed by fellow postconsumers, where core ideas vary all the way from the freedom of not needing a storage unit to the pride of treading more lightly on the Earth.