A Full Life

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Things to Do Besides Shopping – Cultivating New Hobbies and Pastimes

Before I dive into today’s topic, I want to thank all those who took the time to either comment on my last post or send me personal messages.  I appreciate all of the kind words and helpful suggestions I have received and I feel blessed to have such a compassionate and generous group of readers.   Due to the sheer volume of comments, I probably won’t be able to respond to each one individually, but please know that I am extremely grateful to everyone who took the time to write to me.  It truly means a lot to me that you care so much about me and my well-being.   I will respond to as many of you as I can in the coming days.

I would like to continue on the topic of hobbies and pastimes today.   I was originally going to share a new interest I’ve recently started to explore, but since I received so many wonderful ideas for new activities, I thought I’d share some of them here first.  I know that not everyone reads the comments on this blog, but so many great suggestions were offered to me that I’d like to pass them along. I know many of you also wrestle with ways to spend your time besides shopping, so perhaps some of the possibilities below will resonate with you.   I will share my new hobby in a post next week (and yes, it’s included on the list below).

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Is Shopping Your Only Hobby?

The other day, I saw something written on a forum that really made me think:

Seriously, it’s just clothes.  How empty must your life be if your only hobby is shopping?”

In fact, that quote didn’t just make me think – it actually made me cringe and almost cry.   It hit just a little too close to home for me.   I haven’t written about the “full life” issue for a while, so I think it’s high time for another one of my open, honest, and emotionally raw posts.  These posts aren’t easy for me to write, but they do help me explore important issues, and I also think they strike a chord with many readers.

Default Activity

Shopping hobby

Is shopping your default activity for all of your emotional states? 

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The Clothes We Wear at Home

The following is a guest post from Terra Trevor, author, essayist, memoirist and nonfiction writer of a widely published diverse body of work, who believes good humor is more attractive than good clothes that hang in the closet and are seldom worn.

Terra has cultivated a small workable wardrobe, with a spotlight on her full life and the clothes she wears at home. Visit her at terratrevor.blogspot.com.

Terra Trevor

Terra Trevor, enjoying her life and her workable wardrobe

It was one of those days. I couldn’t wait to get home from work and change my clothes. A heavy July fog rolled in and I was so tired I decided to put on my bathrobe. After dinner my husband sliced watermelon. It was my turn to wash the dishes. What could it possibly hurt, I thought, if I left the dirty dishes sitting on the table for a while? We generally kept our house clean, yet on this day the rest of the house was a mess, with sandy beach towels, the picnic basket and cooler from a pleasure-filled weekend strewn in the hall, so I decided to let the kitchen go, too. What I really wanted to do was read my book.

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Tis the Season to Overshop – Or Is It?

The holiday season is upon us once again, along with all of the associated pressures and temptations to shop.  A year ago at this time, I offered a number of tips for dealing with Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and other related holiday challenges.  As I re-read that post yesterday, I pondered what else I could write about the subject of holiday shopping – and overshopping.   I decided that I do have more to say, but I’m going to veer off in a bit of a different direction, to a topic that isn’t often discussed.

Holiday Overshopping

Do you struggle with holiday stress & overshopping?

Buying for Ourselves During the Holidays

In addition to the buying we do for our loved ones (and even some not so loved ones), many of us also purchase things for ourselves this time of year.  While some people might consider such behavior selfish, I really don’t think that’s what it’s about.   In today’s post, I’m going to explore the subject of self-nurturing during what is often a very stressful time of year.

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The Things Shopping Won’t Fix

For years, shopping was my go-to activity for when things weren’t going well in my life.   If I had any sort of bad feelings, I did my best to banish them by heading out to the shops, browsing online stores, or perusing fashion blogs and forums.   I distracted myself from feeling anxiety, worry, fear, sadness, and a whole host of other distressing emotions by means of what many people call “retail therapy.”

What Shopping Won't Fix

Have you ever tried to “fix” your problems through shopping?

I convinced myself that my tactics worked because I did feel better, at least for a while.  But now that I’ve been on my recovering shopaholic journey for almost two years, I feel quite differently.  I now know there are many, many things in life that shopping can’t fix and only one thing it can.   If you head out to fill a legitimate wardrobe gap, you may be able to fix that problem via shopping.  Of course, there’s a fair amount of luck involved in even such directed shopping, but it is possible to fix a defined closet need.   However, that’s the limit to what shopping can do in terms of the problems in our lives. Continue reading →

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Shop Less and Live More – An Interview with Jill Chivers

Today, I’m pleased to share an interview with fellow blogger and ultimate reformed shopaholic, Jill Chivers.  Many of you know Jill from her blog and her June guest post, “How a Shopping Hiatus Can Help.”  But even those who are familiar with Jill and her programs will learn more in this post!  

Jill shares more about herself and her journey and introduces her exciting new offering for compulsive shoppers, “Shop Less and Live More.”   This new site includes free inspiration, as well as two e-products.  More details at the end of this post.

Jill-Chivers - Shop Less and Live More Continue reading →

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Life’s Too Short to Settle and Wear Things Out of Guilt!

I’ll start this post off with a story.   Last night, my husband and I had a “date night” to see a movie (“The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby,” which I really enjoyed).    I decided to wear a dress that I had purchased back in August and had worn once during September.   I didn’t try this dress on for the “first impression test” two weekends ago, as I had worn it so recently, but I really should have.

Settling and Feeling Guilty

Do you wear things you don’t love because you feel guilty?

The first time I wore the dress, I didn’t love it.   I partially chocked up those feelings to being bloated and hormonal, but I also I felt the dress was too voluminous.  So I did what I’ve often done in the past.  I brought it to my tailor to have it taken in.   After I picked it up, I tried it on to make sure the alteration had been done correctly.  It seemed fine, so I hung the dress back up in my closet. Continue reading →