A shopping addiction can start out innocently enough, maybe even starting out as spending time with friends or family, as a social and bonding experience. Over time, it might turn into having a little shopping date after a tough break up or a successful work project, starting to tie emotions into the satisfaction of buying. Those emotional seeds can grow into dangerous habits, using shopping as a way of dealing with anxiety instead of facing your issues and moving through them. A shopping addiction doesn’t develop overnight, and it won’t go away overnight either. With effort and strength, you can beat the need to spend and get your life back on track.
Read the entire article here: I’ve Just Realized That I Have a Shopping Addiction and I’m Really Not a Functioning Adult
Carrie Rattle is a Principal at BehavioralCents.com, a website for women focused on mind and money behaviors. She has worked in the financial services industry for 20+ years and hopes to inspire women to better prepare themselves for financial independence.