Mission Accomplished
While it’s common for most New Year's resolutions to have long since gone south by now, this practical Taurus gal is celebrating keeping hers.
It’s August 1, 2024, and I’ve slam-dunked another empty shampoo container into the recycling bin. I’m strutting around the kitchen like a peacock. Dang, I feel good!
I’ve completed the action phase, the fourth of six stages of change according to the Transtheoretical Model (TTM). For the past seven months, I’ve maintained my goal: not to buy any shampoo, in any form, until every bottle I have, king-size or travel-size, is all used up. Yes, it’s “only” August, but I’m confident I’ve turned the corner and will finish the year strong.
The first stage of change is called precontemplation, when a person hasn’t yet recognized the behavior as a problem and is in denial about needing to make a change. I hit that phase last November. My inbox was being flooded with great holiday deals on all my favorite shampoos and conditioners. I also had a habit of picking up off-brand, never-heard-of types of shampoo whenever I’d see them on sale at discount stores.
I slid right into the second phase, contemplation: Why did I have—and continue buying—all these unused bottles of shampoo when my hair doesn’t even touch the nape of my neck and Dane has a buzz cut? My ambivalence in stage two was apparent; after all, I did stop buying conditioner. However, I was still hesitant to change my overindulgent ways.
Pondering the holiday season with all its sales, I started to realize I’d have more money if I wasn’t filling my cupboard with shampoo that would take me a year or two to use. So I started the preparation phase. I thought about how far into the calendar all my bottles of shampoo would take me. Could I make it a year without buying another? Would I be able to resist buying another?
Right before midnight on New Year’s Eve, while lying in bed, I made my resolution out loud to no one but myself. I never did tell Dane. But I did mention he could use my shampoo any time he was here—no need to have his own!
My dull but practical resolution to avoid acquiring any shampoo this year may sound simple, but the fact is that whenever I saw a sale, I used to stock up. Whenever I stayed at a motel, hotel, or B&B, the cute conditioner and shampoo midgets would come home with me. And worst of all, when my favorites went on sale, I caved in.
But not this year!
With a flourish, in February, I tossed out the Red Apple Cider Shampoo bottle. Done! Despite it making my hair feel like straw, I’d used up every drop. In March, I finished off an ancient bottle of Head & Shoulders, left over from my waterless days in the off-grid cabin. I’d used it in the shower at the old Super 8 Motel in Viroqua when I finished teaching water aerobics. Done! Next, a mammoth-sized bottle of shampoo claiming to be “all-natural hemp” was polished off in May.
And those midgets...done, done, and done!
I’m on a roll. For such a short-haired gal, I started with more odd bottles of shampoo than Mark Spitz had Speedos. But with five months to go, I’m down to one oversized bottle of shampoo and two normal sized. I feel it’s safe to be strutting my stuff over this more-than-half-year accomplishment.
Now the question will be, do I have enough shampoo left, without having to purchase more, to get me through the year? Luckily, with my short hair, a drop is all I need.
You may think it’s a dull resolution, but this Taurus gal is loving the practicality and sensibility of using up what I have. One more month without a relapse and I’ll be in what’s usually the final phase: maintenance. The sixth stage of TTM, termination, is attained when the person has no desire to return to the unhealthy behavior. and they are certain they won’t relapse.
If I make it to the end of the year, I’m certain my days of compulsive shampoo buying will be a thing of the past. My wallet will be heavier, my hair squeaky clean—and one bottle of shampoo will be sitting on the bathtub shelf.