68 garments?
/The average American buys about 68 garments every year.
68 GARMENTS PER YEAR.
I don’t wear 68 different garments in any given year.
Statistics like this are useful reminders that the lives we lead are not always as mainstream and average as we might think.
For example, I’m keenly aware that the average American adult is watching an average of five hours and four minutes of television per day. Unless I’m watching a football game, Elysha and I average less than two hours of television PER WEEK, and it’s not because we don’t enjoy television.
We’re simply too busy to watch it on most days.
When people ask me how I get so much accomplished (and I’m asked this question all the time), I have a multitude of answers - so many that I’m writing a book on the subject - but television is a good one. If the average American is watching more than 35 hours per week and I’m watching just 2 hours per week, you can bet your ass that I’m going to accomplish more in those 33 hours spent not watching TV.
But I’m aware of this disparity. When my friends and colleagues start talking about television, I’m almost always at a loss, both in terms of the actual shows and the people who star in them. I sense this disparity every day.
I honestly couldn’t pick Kim Kardashian out of a lineup. I’m also not even sure if she’s on television anymore, or why she was on television in the first place.
I’m aware of my cultural ignorance in this regard. I’m aware that my television viewing is different than most.
But 68 garments? That’s a new one for me.
But it serves as a reminder that the bubble we occupy is often not as large as we think. People live in ways entirely unlike our own. They have different habits and routines, and they spend their time and money in ways we couldn’t begin to imagine. They have different priorities, different desires, and a variety of interests entirely unlike our own.
This is good to know. Assuming that everyone is living in a way similar to our own is an excellent way of hardening that bubble around us and expanding our misunderstanding, confusion, and the distance between ourselves and our fellow human beings.
So 68 garments, huh?
Okay, people. I’m sure I do many things that you would find equally bizarre.
Beginning with purchasing far fewer than 68 garments per year.
