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.”

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 →

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.

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 →