Retail Therapy

Shopping—when I’m depressed, nervous or bored I like to spend some buckos. What in the name of all things frugal is that all about?
Instant, though temporal, gratification. Buying a new pair of earrings (yeah, like I don’t already have enough of those!), a cute pair of patterned socks (because one always needs socks!), that sweet scarf (truly!), gives me a boost, it perks me up when I’m down.

I can go shopping for things we really need (food, meds, cat fud), sure. It's the free form expedition though, browsing all things sparkly fresh, picking up the bauble or curiosity—stuff I can live without—that's the ticket. That's the trigger for the wee endorphin flood and semi-demi-restored sense of control over my kingdom, my life.

A study was done at the University of Michigan Ross School. The title of the paper by Scott Rick, Beatriz Pereira and Katherine Alicia Burson is, The Benefits of Retail Therapy: Making Purchase Decisions Reduces Residual Sadness.

Sadness is strongly associated with a sense that situational forces control the outcomes in one’s life, and thus we theorized that the choices inherent in shopping may restore personal control over one’s environment and reduce residual sadness. Three experiments provided support for our hypothesis.
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Shopping was up to 40 times more effective at giving people a sense of control, and they were three times less sad compared to those who only browsed.
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“Our work suggests that making shopping choices can help to restore a sense of personal control over one’s environment and reduce sadness,” the researchers said.

Or as Dodai Stewart, formerly of Jezebel, put it:

It seems so obvious. In a world where things are constantly spinning out of control, shopping can feel like power. A woman may point at something, declare, YOU WILL BE MINE, whip out a debit card and make it so. You are queen of your realm, questioning minions (does this suede boot come in size 9?) and slaying micro-demons. (You had nothing to go with that blue skirt and NOW YOU DO. Problem: Vanquished.)

Control. An illusion of control. Control is an illusion. 

“If you hold on to the handle, she said, it's easier to maintain the illusion of control. But it's more fun if you just let the wind carry you.”
~Brian Andreas

Yeah sure. Sometimes. OK, a lot of the time.

Letting go is the hard part. Trusting I’ll survive the ever rising tide, the coming struggles, the next onslaught of nasty health hoopla—life’s wild ride—THAT’S the steep, glittering adamantine mountain to scale. Once I get to the top of it though, boyhowdy, the rest’s a ferociously free spin over the breakers and through the spindrift.

I can do this. I’ve done it before. Meantime, if I can dig Bix out of the tall drifts, mebbe I’ll hit the bookstore and, dunno, engage in some illusory control.

Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.
~Albert Einstein