HOW THRIFTING CAN IMPROVE MENTAL HEALTH

Rahim discusses the growing trend of Singapore’s thrifting culture and community in the recent years, highlighting how thrifting has transformed into an activity that can promote empowerment and mental well-being. The topic of thrifting is commonly followed up with concerns towards sustainability, overconsumption, and the harmful working conditions of the fast fashion industry; although these aspects were addressed within the article, Rahim’s focus onto mental health offers a fresh and worthwhile perspective towards thrifting. Similar reports identify that individuals actively pursuing a minimalist or a lifestyle of voluntary simplicity have shown increased life satisfaction as compared to the regular person. A minimalist lifestyle emanates not only through materialistic downsizing but also mindset and behaviour shifts such as letting go of higher paying but heightened stress jobs to promote a more sustainable way of living.

Depending on individual experiences, a person could obtain values surrounding sustainability from external circumstances and then actively choose to thrift as a way to align personal values with actionable behaviours, promoting mindfulness and increased trust in oneself. Or on the other hand, as per my own experience, I had stumbled upon thrifting through its growing popularity as a social media trend and through my own thrifting occasions, learned the deeper consequence and relevance of thrifting in our deteriorating environmental climate. However one has chanced upon thrifting, being able to understand the profoundness of thrifting beyond a simple act of sustainable consumption can provide for immense human fulfilment in advocating for reduced global climate and humanity issues. This sentiment of reconciling personal values with the act of thrifting and beyond is shown through the interviews conducted, in which the founders of various thrift shops in Singapore curated their business based on wanting to tackle issues such as waste pollution and stigmas surrounding second-hand shopping or for empowering and supporting women. Thrifting has transformed into a stepping stool for communities, regardless whether for self-, individual, or systems advocacy, to come forward and work towards building a better world.

            Straightforward reasons for thrifting leading to improved mental health should not be discounted. The thrifting experience in itself has been considered a therapeutic or self-soothing act, in which complete attention dedicated to the task of exploring racks or bins can be very calming. Furthermore, dopamine rushes in finding a rare or unique one-of-a-kind items can provide as a general mood booster. The knowledge of purposeful and responsible consumption through thrifting also alleviates the guilt that may come with shopping. Although these may seem like smaller considerations, the adequacy of thrifting can be sufficient to improve general mental health.

            Regardless of reason, the rise of popularity and increased access to thrifting has become a way for people to experience more joy in their lives. All the more, whether intentional or not, a sustainable choice was made to fight the continuous battle of environmental pollution and dangerous working environments caused by the fast fashion industry. As the resale market is reported to become twice its size at over $400 billion by 2027, it is exciting to watch as more people discover happiness in the act of thrifting as well as to anticipate what more thrifting can become and perhaps even overcome in the future.