by Cary Farrell
July 22, 2019
Last month we talked about controlling clutter in the home by making a conscious effort to become better shoppers. I hope many of you took the challenge to:
Shop to live
Shop smart
Shop at home first
Shop from a list of need versus want.
Most of us can take this challenge with a little effort, much like we keep ourselves physically healthy by:
Eating to live
Eating smart
Eating at home
Eating from a meal plan
However, there are many people who use shopping as an escape from the pain that they feel deep inside. The pain may come from a loss, a difficult childhood, abuse or any other experience that caused deep and intense feelings. I believe that God designed us with a will to survive. If we don’t feel that we have the support we need to survive intense struggles, we often turn to temporary things to hide, escape, and pretend the pain is not there. Although a band-aid can temporarily cover up a sore, it cannot bring healing to the wound that needs so much more than a band-aid.
If you are still reading this article, then you or someone you love may be struggling as a shopaholic and you are looking for answers. My encouragement to you is not to just look at the behavior but to be willing to look deeper at the root of what is causing the behavior. You might break the cycle of shopping but if you don’t deal with the underlying problem, you will only replace shopping with another form of escape. I want to encourage you that all of us use coping mechanisms and that you are not alone. We all struggle with pain and hurt in our lives. You might think that others look so good on the outside that you can’t imagine that they struggle. Here is a short video that shows the reality of that.
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?id=104752519299&story_fbid=10151539610779300
<iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=447028668722073" width="1280" height="720" frameborder="0"></iframe>
Don’t think that you are alone! Find others who understand your struggles and are willing to help you face the root cause of your problem. If shopping just so happens to be your struggle, here are a couple of websites that might encourage you and give you some practical ideas as you struggle with over-shopping.
http://www.shopaholicsanonymous.org/
http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2007/11/12/are-you-a-shopaholic-six-steps-to-curb-compulsive-spending/