Five Journal Prompts for Conscious Consumption & Seasonal Rhythms
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This week we've explored conscious consumption through three lenses — the soul-warming ritual of soup season, the discovery of craftsmanship worth changing our routines for, and a wardrobe philosophy that honors both French values and personal authenticity.
What connects these seemingly disparate elements? They're all about making deliberate choices that compound into the texture of a life. Not the life we perform on social media, but the one we actually inhabit when no one's watching.
These five prompts dig into our relationship with consumption, craft, and the rhythms we create or inherit.
1. The Consumption Mirror
We talked this week about the disconnect between French lifestyle content online and how French people actually live — the cultural embrace of recycling, upcycling, sharing resources once personal needs are met.
Look at your own consumption patterns over the past month. Not with judgment, but with curiosity. What did you buy? What did you actually use? What purchases brought lasting satisfaction versus momentary dopamine?
Now consider: How much of your consumption is driven by genuine need or joy versus the subtle pressure to perform a certain lifestyle? If you stripped away what you think you should want, what would remain? What would change about your daily choices if you approached consumption like the French rural communities I described — taking what you need, then turning outward to share?
2. The Ritual Worth Changing For
This week, I shared about my new walk to include Motor's Coffee. Ten extra minutes that became so special - to create new connections and personal joys.
Think about your own routines. When was the last time you changed an established pattern because you discovered something worth the disruption? Not because you had to, but because something called to you strongly enough to reorganize your habits around it?
Write about what it takes for you to change a routine. Are you someone who clings to familiar patterns, or do you constantly seek novelty? What would have to happen for you to say "yes, this is worth complicating my carefully ordered life"? And perhaps more importantly — when did you last allow something new to become ritual?
3. The Craft Recognition
This week was full of craftspeople — from Motor's team preparing for world championships to the soup makers at Zoé Bouillon, from L’Appartement Sézane’s hand-embroidered sweaters to the generations-old chocolate makers on Rue des Rosiers.
How do you recognize and value craft in your daily life? Not just in obvious places like museums or galleries, but in the coffee someone makes you, the way someone bags your groceries, the attention someone gives to work that could easily be phoned in?
Consider your own work, whatever it might be. Where do you bring craftsmanship to tasks that no one might notice? Where do you settle for "good enough"? What would change if you approached one ordinary aspect of your life with the dedication of someone preparing for world championships?
4. The Wardrobe as Philosophy
The three-part wardrobe strategy I shared — replace basics, test through vintage, make one annual investment — isn't really about clothes. It's about understanding the difference between need, curiosity, and commitment.
Apply this framework to another area of your life. What are your "basics" that need regular replenishment or maintenance? What are you curious about but not ready to fully commit to? What deserves real investment — of money, time, or energy?
Write about something you've been wanting to invest in (not necessarily financially) but keep postponing. What would it mean to make that one significant choice this season? How might that single decision ripple through the rest of your life?
5. The Memory in the Making
You're living through moments right now that you'll want to remember. But which ones? It's rarely the big, planned events that stick. It's the Tuesday morning when the light hit just right. The soup you made when you were feeling lonely. The sweater you bought that became part of your identity.
What small, seemingly ordinary part of your current life deserves documentation? Not for social media, not for anyone else, but so future you can remember this specific season, this particular rhythm, this exact texture of daily living? Write it down now, while it's still just Tuesday, before it becomes "that autumn when everything was different."
Take these gently, friend. There's no rush, no need to answer them all, no pressure to share unless something wants to be shared.
The real work isn't in the answering anyway. It's in noticing how we move through our days, how we choose what enters our life, and how those choices slowly, quietly, become who we are.
Sometimes the most radical act is simply paying attention to what we're already doing, then asking ourselves: is this the life I want to be living? Is this the story I want to remember?
One conscious choice at a time.
