I was standing in the middle of our family's storage room. You know, the space where everything goes when you don't have a designated "place" for it? I had started the tumultuous job of packing up all our belongings as we prepared to move to our new home. I decided to start in the storage room because it was the most cluttered room in our house. I had procrastinated long enough and my plan was to clear out the entire room before my boys got home from school. Ha!! Ya, right :)
Well, it didn't take me all day to clear out our storage room. It took me days. Yes, days!
There were boxes, boxes, and more boxes. All filled with stuff, stuff, and more stuff.
What on earth was I thinking when I took all those pictures on our family vacation to Nevada? How many snapshots does a girl need of the same mountain? Besides, who has time to put family photos in pretty little memory albums, anyway?
What about that box of silver serving platters and bowls that my mom gave me. They had been in boxes for years. I couldn't stand the thought of giving them away but honestly, I couldn't see myself polishing off all that tarnish and actually using them either.
Oh, yes, then there were the three boxes of school yearbooks (K-12th grade). I had forgotten how dorky I looked back then... not to mention the other kids in my class!
Along with the real old stuff was much newer stuff.
The winter coat I had bought last season. The sofa table I purchased while shopping with friends. They said it would go great in my living room. All those silk flowers that I purchased to make a beautiful flower arrangement for my dining room table. Oops... I never got around to taking that flower decorating class last year.
Oh, I almost forgot... ah-ha moment. Sorry, I can get easily distracted at times.
My ah-ha moment came when I realized that my unhealthy love for shopping had grown into a super sized bad habit. Actually, I'll go as far to say an unhealthy addiction. O.K., I said it.
Unhealthy addition.
At first I thought my ah-ha moment was some crazy random thought. I really didn't have a shopping problem, did I?
As the days followed and I began to tackle the other rooms in my house, I would find a Target bag here and a Stein Mart bag there, filled with things I had bought and crammed into closets, dresser drawers and kitchen cabinets.
But wait a minute. Doesn't a girl have the right to do a little shopping every now an then?
A new top or a cool pair a shoes always seemed to make me feel good. You can never have enough decorative throw pillows, candle sticks, or area rugs to spruce up your house while you try to keep up with the latest HGTV designer shows.
Besides, Keith wasn't really complaining when I'd come home with something new from the mall. Well, actually that isn't completely true. Here's the honest truth... if I thought he may be a little upset, I'd just conveniently keep my bags in the trunk of my car then bring them inside when he wasn't home.
Oh, don't even say it! I know some of you have done the same thing too...right?
I knew my shopping had gotten a little out of control but an actual addiction? Could that be possible?
Yes, Mam. It could be possible and it was starting to look like I had a major problem on my hands and it had nothing to do with packing and moving.
O.k, it's time to share.
Have you ever had an ah-ha moment sort of like mine? It may have nothing to do with shopping but some other "thing" in your life that you recognized as an unhealthy habit?
Maybe something that you've been doing for so long that it feels completely natural and makes total sense to you.
Maybe something that you've known deep down inside, in your little soul wasn't right, but you rationalized it anyway, just like I did.
Maybe thoughts like "I deserve this" or "It's no big deal" have been part of your vocabulary lately.
Can you relate?
I can relate to you, leah, and to 40 something who responded - on both issues. I am going through my house and organizing and getting rid of stuff right now. I'm also trying to get off the sugar band wagon.
ReplyDeleteso thank you both sharing your struggles - it's always nice to know i'm not alone. I am seeing these as sin, not as just bad habits, and i'm not saying it's sin for everyone -but for me it is and that's what causes me to want to change.