Today I’m in the mood to open the wound. Figuratively speaking, of course. I want to discuss the demons we’re fighting to eliminate from our personal universe.
I’ll confess mine: shopping until I dropped… buying material excesses until my bank account screamed “ENOUGH!” That’s the bad news.
The good news is that the shopping mania is no longer a part of my life. It happened in the old days when I thought that money would flow forever. Many Saturdays would be spent at the mall, just window-shopping. By the time I got home, the trunk of my car would be loaded with various department store bags. The items usually consisted of clothes, accessories and shoes that I didn't really need. Buying clothing and shoes wasn’t the only obsession. If I saw a house décor that would fit my house, consider it bought. There was a time when I was into exotic lamps. If I didn’t find something that caught my eye in the stores, the mail order catalogs would get my undivided attention. After I had purchased too many of those, my short attention span shifted to hanging crystals. Or was it the cloisonné dragon and phoenix statues? Anyway, you get the picture. At one Chinese store that sold feng shui stuff, the owner would always follow me when he saw me enter the door. That’s because he knew that I would never leave his shop empty-handed.
In those hit-the-mall days, there was an international market that I loved to visit most weekends, whether to look for something to buy or to simply salivate over the enormous collection of ethnic merchandise on sale. Every time I went there, I never failed to sample the coffee flavor of the day. Usually, the sip was worth the try. It was in that store that I found a huge laminated map of the world. Right then and there I couldn’t resist the urge to grab it instantly. It was a wise decision because the next time I visited, the map was sold out. Obviously, a lot of people wanted a picture of the globe on their wall. Not sure if their intention was to travel to those foreign places, but my plan is to be able to visit some of the countries on the map. Consider it my manifestation of globe-trotting in my future.
Unfortunately, that international market shut down a few years ago. There’s a similar store about 10 miles away from home, but without a car now it’s too much bother for me to go there. Chasing after bus schedules is not my idea of weekend fun! I have to think that my God is sending me a loud and clear message: Quit the shopping and the spending!
I am even more convinced now that God took away my car (lost in a Thanksgiving Eve accident) for a good reason. Not only was it no longer safe for me to drive (because I obviously snoozed on the wheel when the crash happened), He didn’t approve of my driving around to malls and shopping centers, wasting hard-earned money on material stuff that I can’t take with me to my grave. So He brought a life-changing incident to stop that nonsense.
Today I have become the opposite of what I used to be. From a seemingly incurable crazed shopaholic, I’ve become a tightwad when it comes to shopping. Besides the recurring hesitation to spend on material things, I’ve learned to implement thrifty measures at every opportunity. Now I know that unplugging most of my home appliances and using power strips can reduce my monthly power consumption. From a typical triple-digit monthly power bill, the amount has gone down to double digits during the warm months, now becoming the rule rather than the exception in my household. Hallelujah!
In my sky’s-the-limit spending days, I would drive to the dinner theatre to watch a movie and enjoy a meal at the same time. That’s a thing of the past! These days I’d rather rent a dvd through the mail and enjoy watching a film right in my comfort zone. Eating dinner at the same time and without spending a dime on fuel, movie tickets and served meals. Now I get to appreciate my car loss because it opened my eyes to many things that would have gone unnoticed and unappreciated because my hands were on the wheel and my eyes were focused on the road.
Instead of spending time at the mall, I walk one block from my office to the nearby Walmart. The store has really good stuff and reasonable prices to boot. Also, I now go online to make my purchases at stores that are too far for me to visit. Many times I luck out and find good bargains. The merchandise gets delivered to me. Even if I had to return the items, it was a painless process because I made it a point to deal with legitimate companies only.
Today’s world is full of options if we only allow ourselves to find them. Most of the time, they’re right under our nose! If we don’t allow ourselves to get too busy and distracted, the things we’re meant to find will certainly be found.
These days that I’m not out shopping, I spend more time enjoying life at home. I've realized that if I surround myself with the things I love and enjoy, I don’t have a reason to go anywhere else. I can now say with much certaintly: I am the mall’s loss. And I am proud of it!
My sincere hope is that other people’s warts are as curable as mine.
My sincere hope is that other people’s warts are as curable as mine.
