Confessions of a Stress Shopper by Rambling Raven
By Raven • Aug 24th, 2009 • Category: Rambling Raven •
Email This Post
• 
Print This Post
Confessions of a Stress Shopper by Rambling Raven
Why couldn’t I be normal and just eat my weight in chocolate? It would be great if I could hit the treadmill for a few hours a day to relieve it, but I don’t. No, what I do to deal with stress is put stress on my wallet. My great stress buster is shopping. There is nothing more calming to me than to go inside a store and cruise the aisles. I can get lost for hours in a grocery store, just walking the aisles looking over the products helps to calm my nerves and lower my blood pressure.
My favorite, absolute favorite, place to stress shop is a bookstore. Oh my goodness, just last weekend after a hellish week at work I walked into a huge Barnes and Nobles. As soon as I walked through the double doors my brain started to decompress. The smell of the store, the books displayed on the tables and shelves took away all that was ailing me. The glistening, shinny new book covers were all calling my name. I didn’t know which direction to go first, so I just stood at the front of the store for a second and took a deep breath. Slowly I made my way to the magazine racks. I skimmed through several and continued to walk the perimeter of the bookstore. By the time I got to the second floor I honestly forgot what it was that was so upsetting to me. After three hours in the bookstore and with several purchases in tow, I was whole again.
The funny thing is I don’t have to physically be at a store to engage in my favorite stress buster. If I can’t get to a store I find myself glued to Amazon.com. I have been known to damn near lose a Saturday just “window shopping” at Amazon. In the seven years since I have been a consumer I may have purchased nearly a thousand items, mostly book and beauty related.
My pathology doesn’t end with Amazon or a tour of a bookstore. I have also been known to spend a few hours starring at QVC and HSN. Television shopping is not as satisfying as being on Amazon or in an actual store but it does help me to relax, especially if the shows are focused on a new beauty product. I have accounts with both networks.
I guess the life saver for me is that I am more of a browser than a buyer. Thank goodness I don’t have a ton of stress in my life, or I would be broke. However, with a new school year and a new demanding boss I have found myself falling to sleep with one of the home shopping networks on. I wonder what it is about the act of shopping that helps calm me. I know it probably would be healthier to stick with soothing baths or a glass of wine. However, there is just something about a new shinny product that hits the spot for me.
Am I alone on this one or are there some stress shoppers out there? If you are not a stress shopper what coping mechanism do you use to help relieve stress? My bank account and I would be eternally grateful for some productive advice.
Related Posts
Raven is an educator with a B.A. in Psychology and a M.A. in Education. She has been an avid reader since childhood. Her favorite genres are mystery, suspense, and horror, although she will give any genre a try. She is a life long resident of Chicago. Her love of books opened her mind to people, places and events far beyond her Chicago home. Reading helped to shape her world and her opinion of the events that took place within it. No matter what demands her career requires of her, she has always found time to read and write in a journal. Along with reading and journaling, she loves to watch the sunset, and discuss hot topics with family and friends. She loves baseball, horror movies, mysteries, listening to music from every corner of the world and expressing her view of the latest books with the women of APOOO.
Email this author | All posts by Raven
I don’t know if it is stress shopping but I like to shop. And yes bookstores have them own allure – like you I need to smell a bookstore every now & then. I have been known to go into a bookstore in a foreign country and buy a book eventhough I do not speak/read the language. But a couple years ago when I had to pack up all of my stuff to move – I said that was enough. So I now try very hard to “throw out” two items for eveyone I brought in the house and to think twice if I really need the item. But with my Kindle and iPod it seems those rules do not appy to books and music.
@ Beverly….Kindle and iPods are good for condensing stuff…lol. As for me, I’m really not a big shopper…except when it comes to shoes and previously (until this year) books. However, I will shop for my kids in a heartbeat and used to do that quite often until they became ungrateful teens. Now, I only buy for their needs year-round and wants are only given at Christmas (within reason) and for their birthdays.
I like to shop too but I’m a bargain shopper. I’ll watch an item and the price drop until I feel the price is right. My friends tease me because they know if it’s not on sale, more than likely I’m not going to buy it (except for perfume and even then it has to come in a gift set…lol). I can never go into a book store and go in and come right out. I’m usually caught in the store for several hours. There’s never enough time to browse a bookstore it seems
.-= Shelia´s last blog ..Review His Invisible Wife & Win Ledisi New CD =-.