Confessions of a shopaholic
What do The Devil Wears Prada, 13 Going on 30 and The Confessions of a Shopaholic have in common besides being iconic 2000s movies?
That鈥檚 right, fashion and shopping. However, these movies sort of demonise the fashion industry to an extreme and worse, they ridicule the characters鈥 love for shopping. I don鈥檛 think shopping is necessarily a bad thing unless you do it excessively to the point of bankruptcy but then again, everything is bad in excess. As an avid shopper, I鈥檓 here to share why I love shopping and why I think it helps with聽my mental wellbeing.
Besides being one rollercoaster ride of a year, 2020 was also the year of online shopping. For my entrepreneurial friends, what a year to try your hand at e-commerce and for my shopaholics, our Google tabs have never been so full of Cotton On, The Iconic, House of Sunny, etc. Online shopping was one of the things that kept me going during the pandemic. With travel bans in place and the future looking rather gloomy, waiting for the postman to drop off my packages from Depop gave me something to look forward to. It also gave me little jolts of serotonin and served as a good distraction for when my mind started wandering into the realm of feeling homesick and being hyperaware of our isolation.
On days where my budget is looking a little tight, I like to play Rich Girl by Gwen Stefani (to manifest the $$$ duh!) on my earphones while I weave in and out of Zara and H&M window shopping, building outfits I would wear if I could afford it and making a mental list of the full-priced clothes that鈥檒l be on the clearance rack 3 months later. Window shopping is my version of yoga or meditation 鈥 it calms me down as I mindlessly browse through racks upon racks of clothes after a long day of lectures and seminars. If my social battery is fully charged, I like to hit up my friends to join me on my window shopping adventures. What a fun way to bond, huh? Warning: you might end up with a pair of shopping bags or two if you鈥檙e going with an enabling friend (such as myself).
After a couple of hectic weeks catching up on study notes, chasing assignment deadlines and typing upcoming blog posts, I like to go out and buy myself something in the name of self-care. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like a reward鈥 as that one TikTok sound goes. I buy myself a little celebratory gift which usually consists of either stationary from Kikki.K or Typo, earrings from Cotton On, or a new book if I鈥檓 done with the previous one. Though I鈥檓 aware that my academic efforts will serve me well when I step into the world of 9 to 5, it鈥檚 nice to be reminded now that my hard work pays off while I wait for the future to come. Besides, the new things I bought will keep me preoccupied for a couple of days until the grades start rolling in and my anxiety skyrockets.
The bottom line is shopping makes me happy and content. It鈥檚 the same as those who find happiness in hiking or doing marathons (going from one end of Rundle to the other requires some cardio too) or weaving or reading 鈥 if it fills your day with joy, don鈥檛 be ashamed of it. Shop to your heart's content but be wary of your bank balance. It wouldn鈥檛 be good for your mental and physical health if you鈥檙e faced with financial struggles. Have fun browsing the stores!