Back to School Supplies: Why Do New Pens and Notebooks Make Me Happy?
While the hustle and bustle of back to school has been in my rearview for quite some time, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of excitement when I saw pens, three-ring binders, and every color paper clip at my local big box store.
Social psychologist Elle Boag agrees:
“There is something about a new pen, notebook etc that makes many adults quite emotional. The smell and cleanness of a fresh notebook makes us feel that, within this book, anything can be achieved.”
Even though the patterns and colors seem infinite these days, some things still appear the same. While the past few years have felt in-flux for almost everyone, the predictability of back to school shopping can feel like a saltine cracker to even the sourest of stomachs. Things like political unrest, a recession, global warming, systemic racism, and an entire Costco parking lot filled with other problems hang in the air like smoke from the Canadian wildfires. These particles, when inhaled, can damage the lungs…and break our hearts.
While all of these issues are important and require action from every one of us - it is also important, and even necessary, to practice being present and soak up little moments of joy whenever and wherever we can. It is important to educate yourself, and take action. And it is important to stop and appreciate a pen set from Target that has little cats on it…
Maybe it’s because I’m a millennial, and we’ve been conditioned to brace for impact, or maybe it’s GERD, but some days, a saltine cracker just ain’t cutting it (especially when you’re gluten-intolerant). I get a bit nostalgic when I smell new erasers and notebooks while walking up and down the isles listening to throwbacks from the 2000’s playing throughout the store. Like a siren song lulling me into a Rihanna-filled stupor, I suddenly feel relaxed…sort of. Hell, I could always use a new set of pens. Who knows what kind of organizational mayhem I could unleash at home if I only had the proper writing accoutrements. And what about a new notebook? How did Marie Kondo get her start? Maybe I need new Tupperware containers…or a 6-piece set of hangers. Like Natasha Bedingfield so eloquently wrote, “The Rest Is Still Unwritten”.
National optimism may be at an all time low according to research studies, but one can easily feel like an optimist, or even a hopeless romantic, while sifting through a menagerie of post-it notes. Families with school-aged children aren’t feeling as optimistic - though, maybe the temporary shot of dopamine is only applicable if you aren’t responsible for paying an average of $890.07 for back to school supplies (CNBC, 2023).
Like with anything else, extend yourself some grace and allow yourself the child-like glee of finding joy in even the smallest familiarities and routines.