Book reView- 7: an experimental mutiny against excess by Jen Hatmaker

My plan with this book review on 7: an experimental mutiny against excess, was to do it by chapters, as I read them.  

Let me explain why that did not happen... I devoured this book like a crazed premenstrual lunatic eating a triple chocolate fudge brownie & hastily washing it down with glass of chocolate milk.

I tried to savor it but it didn't happen that way. 

It got me....it got me like the smoke got Sweet Brown(just in case you have never met Sweet Brown, let me do the honors of introducing you to her here). 

Many times I found myself choking on the smoke of  my own ego and my own excess.

First off, I adore the author, Jen Hatmaker.

I haven't met her....yet. 

In fact I had never even heard of her before I was led to this book. 

I actually admitted on Facebook to having a slight girl crush on her. 

She is witty and smart and funny and raw and real. 

If she lived closer, I would make her be my friend.

After I finished "7", I immediately downloaded Interrupted & Ms. Understood. 

Both written by Jen Hatmaker.

I am beyond excited to read these two books!

In fact, reading is exactly what I am going to do when I take my 7 day hiatus from all things internet, starting this Saturday.

This was a planned departure from the WWW before I read this book, but I am finding quite a bit of irony in it, since it just so happens to be 7 days.

Readers, at the risk of sounding hoo-doo voo-doo, I have to say someone is speaking to me on a much higher level than where I stand. Leading me to sit up and take notice of the things(the many,many things) & people that surround me.

If I ever had a small desire to want to downsize my life, that small desire snowballed into an avalanche after reading "7".

Quick overview:

Jen identified seven areas of excess in life that she thought her family needed to work on. They were:

#1- Food- Her and her husband only ate 7 foods for 30 days

#2-Clothes- Both only wore 7 items of clothing for 30 days

#3-Spending- Her family(including 3 kids) only spent money in 7 places for 30 days

#4-Media- They picked 7 types of media to abstain from for 30 days

#5-Possessions- they gave away 7 things each day for 30 days

#6-Waste- adopted 7 green habits for, yep, you guessed it 30 days

#7-Stress-observed 7 sacred pauses, every day, for 30 days

With each chapter finished,  I became more and more enamored with the idea of my own mutiny against excess.

I really think I will do some version of Jen's experiment. 

I just do not know what that is going to look like, except for the fact that I am taking 7 days away from this key board. 

And frankly the whole idea scares me, because I am terrible at following through with ideas and experiments.

Remember B'Dog calls me fickle and indecisive?

Yeah well, this one, this idea... I am going to take some time to think on. 

It is not something I can just jump into. 

It's not for the faint of heart or the thin skinned. 

AND this idea makes my heart feel faint, and my skin feel thin.

I hope when I come back from my 7 day departure, I will have an idea of what my first 30 days of  mutiny will look like and be able to share that with all you lovely readers.

Until then I am going to run with the idea of just......

ENJOYing my View...I hope you enjoy yours too!

~Jenifer