I’m way past my O month, but I need to finish up by O experiences.

Back in November, I selected two O books, each of which had a fascinating premise. Unfortunately, I was unable to finish either book due to time constraints and other issues. I started both books to get a feel for them and will someday return to them and give them their rightful due.

The first book was The Outsourced Self: Intimate Life in Market Times by Arlie Russell Hochschild. The book examines what happens when we begin to outsource the most personal aspects of our lives. When we don’t have enough time ourselves but do have enough money to pay someone else to do it, are we wise to outsource and hire specialists to manage our children’s birthday parties, navigate the dating process, orchestrate our weddings, manage our children’s birthday parties and even  arrange for the care of our elderly parents? I’m an advocate of outsourcing areas of our business, but need more time to ponder how outsourcing our personal lives will eventually build or break our society. Are we better for it or do we lose something precious?

The other book was Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion by Elizabeth Cline. This book tackles the issue of how many of us are buying way too many clothes – mainly because they are so inexpensive that adding a new outfit to your wardrobe is almost as easy and often as cheap as buying a fast food dinner. Reading how the typical American consumer often buys a new item of clothing every week was an eye opener. The book points out how this unchecked consumption leads to more environmental waste and horrible working conditions, plus because the clothes are so cheap, they are being tossed quickly because they wear out and are don’t hold their shape. No one wins.

That wraps up my O month. This was long OVERDUE.