435. Buy Nothing

Irene emailed us to share all of the okay things she’s experienced since joining her neighborhood’s ‘buy nothing’ Facebook group. 

Transcripts may not appear in their final version and are subject to change.

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I’m Nora McInerny, and It’s Going To Be OK.

This podcast is a little bit of a group project. We are out every day searching, looking for OK things to bring back to you. And also, you bring them to us, okay?

Most of the time, you’re finding the OK thing and bringing it to us. And that is the case today because we got this email from Irene. Hi, Nora and team.

I wanted to share my recent OK thing, which quite surprisingly is made possible by social media. I got rid of all social media a few years ago.

However, I recently found out that I’m expecting a baby, and several friends suggested neighborhood buy nothing groups on Facebook as a way to source baby gear. I have scored some great finds for myself.

My personal favorite is an otter that plays music and breathes, a toy that was meant for my future child, but has now become a way for me to self-soothe.

However, the bigger joy for me is gifting stuff that I’m ready to part with to my community as I clear up space for my future little one. I love that my stuff not only gets a new life, but also brings someone joy and helps me connect to my community.

I recently gifted a laptop bag to a woman who just started a new job. While chatting with her, I found out she was a photographer and she’ll be taking my maternity photos next year.

Most recently, I passed on a beloved day bed that has been passed down from one poor grad student to another to a very kind and appreciative woman.

She helped me by hauling away a huge piece of furniture to make room for my new phase of life, and I helped her make room for her relatives to stay when they come to town. She even showed up with a tray of brownies before picking up the bed.

Exchanges like this and the connections that come from them remind me of the kind and compassionate community all around me, which has kept me going during these turbulent times. They help remind me that it’s going to be OK.

I think that’s beautiful and perfect. We really all do need each other. We forget that.

We forget that we are so deeply connected to the people around us in ways that we can’t always see. And you might have inspired me to join a Facebook by Nothing group, because all of this sounds right up my alley.

So thank you Irene for bringing a little bit of OK to our days. I’m Nora McInerny, this has been It’s Going To Be OK. This episode was produced by Claire McInerny and mixed by Amanda Romani.

We are a production of Feelings & Co. Where, you know what, we love feelings, and we appreciate all of them, especially the ones that come from a Facebook by nothing group. Actually, we don’t play favorites.

We just like all feelings the exact same amount, no favoritism. The rest of our team is myself, Nora McInerny, Marcel Malekebu and Grace Barry. Our theme music is by Secret Audio.