Hello Hi yes I’m addicted to many things: cutting my hair, weed, people/going out, social media, my phone, coffee, shopping, and probably many more things. Anything to give me that dopamine hit. Dopamine is a tricky little trickster. I hate him. You have to admit, shopping is addictive. I've never seen confessions of a shopaholic but I should, too, freeze my credit card. Personally, I go to cheap thrift stores so I can get more for less. America, right! More, more, more, new, new, new, now, now, now! My closet always looks like it's throwing up. We always want new things, but material items never fill your void. Ever. In fact, all it does is make you want more when the high dissolves. Getting that cute new dress or that YUMMY azz candle will give you a moment of euphoria or excitement, sure, but those things can’t put an end to heavy negative feelings like depression, low self-esteem, loneliness, or whatever it is once and for all. A new pair of shoes is no match to fight a vast emptiness inside. Some say retail therapy can be effective. Shopping is a good way to get creative, find your own style, and treat yourself. With fashion, you can play with colors n patterns n aesthetics. You can get to know yourself and what you like. It is an expensive coping mechanism, but a coping mechanism nonetheless. There are healthier ways to cope, sure, but my oh my are there worse ways to “get away from it all” ex) heroine. Anyways, shopping is comforting but materialism gets in the way of true happiness inside. More a distraction than a cure. As cheesy as it sounds, it is not items that make us happy but experiences, friends, family, the kinds of things that money cannot buy. When shopping starts to affect one’s relationships is obviously the extreme we are trying to avoid. America, right! More, more, more, new, new, new, now, now, now! It is just compulsive, this urge, this feeling that you “need” that top when you couldn’t possibly fit it in your stuffed drawers. As Disney channel’s Ms. London Tipton once said, “my motto is: wear it a day, throw it away”. It’s a wasteful and, ultimately, a fruitless attempt at becoming whole. Thinking shopping will make you happy is like pouring water into a funnel and expecting it to stay full- it won’t. Just like any addiction. Soon it empties and the urge will come back to fill it up again, and again, and again. At the end of the day, one could say it just comes down to balance (like most things do), since too much of anything is a bad thing. What no one really talks about in terms of being a shopaholic or addict of any nature is that it’s not totally our fault! We live in a capitalist society designed to make us feel like you we be complete without this new pair of pants or this new whateVeR. Everywhere we look, there is another ad designed to make us crave another hit of dopamine that will never be able to hold us over ;) Yummy !!! I hope this resonated with all of the compulsive shoppers out there. <3
Night night baes
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