It’s org porn season…proceed with caution!
On Saturday my mailbox was stuffed so full that the top wouldn’t shut. And still there was more. My poor mailman had to roll up a wad of the remaining “mail” and stick it through our door handle.
No, we weren’t away on holiday. We were just out and about on a typical Saturday going to hockey practice and running the million-and-one errands that just come with the season.
The only explanation: it’s “Org porn” season.
I know, I feel like I just said a dirty word. Am I even allowed to say “porn” on Buttoned Up (I guess as the chief editor, I’ll give myself a pass this once)?
What am I talking about, you ask? I’m talking about those gorgeous catalogs filled to bursting with breathtakingly decorated living rooms, artfully set tables, and gifts wrapped with a flourish.
Log on to the Internet and the visual feast continues (Sex sells, baby).
Big sites and small blogs alike feature a smorgasbord of artfully photographed, thoughtful Holiday crafts you too should try this time of year. If you turn on the TV, you’ll find more of the same – plus experts of all stripes showing you how to find the “perfect” gift for everyone on your list.
Collectively the images are lovely to look at and potentially inspiring. I’m certainly always on the lookout for good ideas I can use to spruce up my own home for the Holidays.
The dark side of Org Porn
But they also have a dark side. Cumulatively they send the message that there is such a thing as “perfect” when it comes to decorating and gift giving, and that we somehow owe it to our loved ones to strive to achieve it.
That’s why I always think it’s wise to remind myself that a good percentage of what I am seeing is pure airbrushed fantasy – images that have been carefully art directed, airbrushed, and retouched to create maximum desire. In a nutshell, they bear little resemblance to real life.
Why should you care about that? Well, on a very real level org porn ratchets up the pressure on most of us to do more, buy more, be more perfect hosts when we are already pretty, darn overloaded and financially strapped.
The key to avoiding the trap is mercifully very easy: awareness. Once you are aware of what you are looking at (org porn, not reality), you then are free to choose how much or how little you want to buy into a particular image, idea, or product promise.
