Transcription
I want to talk about five habits that help me overcome my shopping addiction. Now, I've done a couple of videos on this recently, and you guys really liked it. And I just wanted to dive a little deeper and give you a few more tips on how I personally have overcome, um, this toxic, let me just say it's toxic, uh, trade. Okay, is "trade" the right word? I don't know.
But anyways, I, um, I just really struggled in the past, always feeling like I needed stuff, always feeling like I had to have the newest and next best thing. And I've really, really calmed myself down. Yeah, I, um, I stopped doing that so much. I'm still buying things. I still love fashion very much. I still love certain, uh, designer items. I, I just have scaled a little back, and I have stopped making shopping my entire personality. Okay? Because there was a time where it definitely was. So yeah, let's talk about these.
So the first one is a habit that I, well, it's not really a habit, it's more of a thought process. Okay? So I really have learned that I really have learned that if I'm in a bad mood or if I'm not feeling good, as easy as it is to to go online, click a button, and purchase something and feel better for a brief moment, it doesn't satisfy me long term. It isn't going to make me happy, genuinely fulfilled. So now I, it sounds kind of boring, but I go for a walk. I listen to an audio book. I try to get inspired. I do some yoga. I go cycling. Um, I spend some time with my dog. I, I try to do something to make myself feel better before heading straight online and buying something. And a lot of the times, this has really worked, and it has really shifted my mindset a little bit. And so that is just something that I, I've done over the last couple of years. Okay? I just saw this amazing lip liner on this girl, and she looks so pretty with it, and I'm feeling kind of down. So let me buy it so I can feel better. No, let's just not do that. Let's put the phone down. Let's go for a walk. Let's listen to an audio book. Let's cook. Let's distract myself and find a way to to actually fulfill, like feel fulfilled, do you know what I mean? Versus just buying something.
Another thing that has really helped is unsubscribing from emails, unsubscribing from text notifications. You guys will not believe how many text messages I used to get on a daily basis. Um, some of them I have not unsubscribed to yet, but I just don't even open anymore. So I have like a thousand unread messages. But, um, basically, not subscribing to an email list from websites I go on because they will send you discounts, and they will send you deals, and they will send you sales, and then you feel like you need to buy something. But trust me, it's really helpful if you're not actually part of those email lists because then you don't get tempted. You don't even get tempted. So that's definitely a habit I've developed that I think is really powerful and just really, really helpful. It really is. Um, I used to subscribe to every single email, like, "Oh, maybe I'll get 10% off, and then it's going to justify, justify me buying this item." Or, um, they were going to send me an email or a text message, "Oh, you know, treat yourself, 20% off," and you're like, "Oh my God, now I must buy something," even if I didn't want to buy anything. I don't know, it's really a weird situation. But yeah, that has really, really helped so much as well.
This next one, I don't know, it might be a little controversial, maybe not. But I feel like the most obvious place to start is to limit temptations. Okay? And so for me, a biggest, a big temptation was definitely social media and influencers. And if you look at my Instagram, I barely follow anybody. I follow maybe like a hundred people, and most of them are close friends or family. And that's just because I don't constantly want to have stuff pushed in my face and then feel that temptation. I recently did follow someone and really like her style, and so I followed her for some inspo. And once I started feeling like every time she posted something, I felt like I needed a necklace, or I needed new rings, or I needed to buy something, like I was like, "Okay, I have to unfollow her." Because she'll post stuff, and she just has such a selling power that like whenever she would post something, I felt so tempted to buy something. And so I instantly was like, "Okay, no, we can't do this. Let me just unfollow her." So now, if I do follow someone, I like people that style stuff that they have in their wardrobe, restyle things, versus people that do a lot of like trendy stuff. And I know that seems crazy for someone like me. I do still love a trend, but I just don't like that constant like temptation in my face, if you know what I mean.
Another thing is, um, this is something I have started doing more recently, but if I do buy something, I used to just rip the tags off and I'd wear it. I talked about it in a recent video, but like I would rip the tags off and I would instantly wear it. And so now, and a lot of my friends, I have to give credit where credit is due, some of my friends were actually like, "Angelique, keep the stuff for like a week. Try it with different outfits. Try it for different scenarios, and see if you even like it before you rip the tags off." I had a couple situations like, I bought a pair of Goldie jeans, and we all know they're not cheap. I instantly ripped the tags off. They were way too big for me, so I had to have them altered. That didn't work out, so it was this whole big deal. And so I started really not ripping those tags off, considering an item at home, trying it on, um, just kind of seeing if I actually like it, how much wear am I going to get out of this? Am I really going to love this? Is this going to fit into my wardrobe? And, you know, it sometimes it's hard to be honest and tell people like, "Yeah, I have a shopping problem. I will buy things, rip the tags off, instantly wear it, and then never wear it again." And but, but that's the reality of it. And so I had to find a way to, you know, see the problem and better that situation. And for me, that's something that really works. And then if I don't like it next week, it's going back. So yeah, that's definitely, definitely a very, very good habit to have. And thank you to my amazing friends for, uh, recommending that.
And, um, the last habit is journaling. I never really was huge on journaling, but I think a lot of my shopping issues came from again, feeling unfulfilled and feeling kind of not in a very, like, not mentally happy state. And journaling really helps me with that. I used to do therapy, which I think everybody should do therapy, and that also helped. Um, but I, I think journaling is really a nice thing. And I have a naturopath, and she said to me, "You need to sit down and write for an hour, even if you have nothing to write. You just sit down or 30 minutes at first, you know, to make it easier, but just write anything that comes to mind. It doesn't have to make sense. Just write it." It is so, so helpful if you're like struggling with anything mentally. Um, I would highly recommend to try that, and I feel like you'll feel better overall. And again, you'll feel less tempted to do, you know, all the shopping because I think for a lot of us, and I shouldn't generalize it, but I do think for a lot of us, I think it comes from a place of unhappiness and wanting to be fulfilled, and which is why we shop. I think sometimes, um, especially women. But yeah.
So anyways, that is it for today's video. I really hope you guys liked it. If you did, give it a thumbs up, and I'll see you guys in my next time. No, what? Oh my God. I'll see you guys next time. Bye.