I gave up shopping for a year.<\/p>\n
A year!<\/p>\n
I wasn\u2019t in credit card debt.<\/p>\n
I wasn\u2019t joining in on a new budgeting bandwagon.<\/p>\n
I wasn\u2019t taking a stand against consumerism.<\/p>\n
I wasn\u2019t addicted to shopping, but I did joke with girlfriends about the restorative properties of retail therapy. I used shopping to change my mood, to manage my stress, to tolerate my boredom, and to boost my self-esteem. OK, so maybe I was a tiny bit dependent.<\/p>\n
I gave up shopping for a year . . . 365 days . . . because I decided I wanted to give\u00a0 \u201cmore-than-enough\u201d a try:<\/p>\n
I was chasing after \u201cmore, more,\u201d when all along there was \u201cmore-than-enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, what did I learn?<\/p>\n
Not unlike any other addiction, shopping lied to me. Shopping promised me anything, took my everything, and gave me nothing. I was searching for happiness on a clearance rack, but the price for joy cannot be discounted. Joy is priceless (which I think I already knew, but I was willing to give buying joy a shot).<\/p>\n
I am a busy girl with a husband, three daughters, a career and a dream. Shopping takes time away from the things that really matter in life. It felt good to have those minutes (hours) back in my day.<\/p>\n
I moved back to Louisiana in the third month of my fast, and the food down here is \u201cces c\u2019est bon!\u201d (Translation: crazy good!) It didn\u2019t take long for the gumbo and beignets to have an impact on my waistline. Like most women, I have a few \u201cfat day\u201d outfits in my closet, but I was embarking on a \u201cfat year!\u201d<\/p>\n
My shopping fast taught me weight gain is a privilege. I didn\u2019t have the option to buy a new wardrobe of stretchy pants if my eating got excessive. As my fast continued, my tendency towards \u201cmore, more\u201d was exposed as I toyed with substituting overbuying with overeating.<\/p>\n
I launched my online counseling practice in the seventh month of my fast after a four year break from the office. I had not bought work clothes in at least five<\/i> years! I was tempted to make an exception and buy a blouse or two so I could look presentable for my clients, but I resisted. Instead, I got creative, wore what I had, and found I still had more-than-enough. I\u2019ve since purged my closet from all the excess.<\/p>\nShopping Has not<\/i> Gotten Easier To Resist<\/h3>\n
The last month of my fast was probably the hardest. My permission giving statements were relentless:<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t need to be legalistic. It\u2019s on sale. You need it. Just buy it!\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s an amazing price! Just buy the earrings, but don\u2019t wear them until the fast is over.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cBuy it. No one will ever know.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The struggle is very real. My desire to want more has gotten even stronger as I\u2019ve transitioned back into a life with shopping. I\u2019m trying to remember that when I give in to the shopping spree, I am actually settling for less-than-enough.<\/p>\n More is less.<\/p>\n When you give up shopping for a year, and it\u2019s been months since you\u2019ve had anything new, the tiniest gift is wonderful. The delight I felt when people gave to me – unmatched!<\/p>\n My daughters bought me a scarf for my birthday I had been eyeing for months. Sweet agape.<\/p>\n More-than-enough.<\/p>\n To be honest, I\u2019m glad the fast is OVER! I missed getting to buy things for myself, but I missed the relational side of shopping the most.<\/p>\n Some girlfriends and I are spending the day at an outlet mall next week, and I\u2019m counting the days.<\/p>\n My excitement for the spree is different than it would have been a year ago. Instead of daydreaming about what<\/i> I\u2019m going to find, I\u2019m daydreaming about who<\/i> I\u2019m going to be with. I\u2019m thankful for the friends God is giving me in my new home. My heart is full.<\/p>\n So what\u2019s holding you back from experiencing more-than-enough?<\/p>\n Today\u2019s surrender is tomorrow\u2019s freedom (a nod to All Sons & Daughters\u2019 lyric, Dawn to Dusk<\/i>).<\/p>\n Tasha Levert, Ph.D., is a licensed professional counselor in New Orleans who provides face-to-face and online care. She is a conference speaker, worship leader and the author of \u00a0Stories of Hope for the Sleep Deprived.<\/a>\u00a0Tasha and her husband Tim (Pastor with Students at the Vineyard Church of New Orleans) have three beautiful daughters and a lazy schnauzer named Gumbo.\u00a0To find out more about Tasha or her practice go to\u00a0tashalevert.com<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0broomtreecounseling.com<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I gave up shopping for a year. A year! I wasn\u2019t in credit card debt. I wasn\u2019t joining in on a new budgeting bandwagon. I wasn\u2019t taking a stand against consumerism. I wasn\u2019t addicted to shopping, but I did joke with girlfriends about the restorative properties of retail therapy. I used shopping to change my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":1810,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15030\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themom.co\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Shopping Steals Our Wonder<\/h3>\n
\nMy mother-in-law bought me a LSU t-shirt to celebrate the beginning of football season.
\nMy husband bought me new paintbrushes and oils for Christmas.
\nMy mom sent me a brand new book in the mail just because she\u2019s awesome.
\nMy friend bought me some fancy body wash to warm my new Louisiana home.
\nI love presents, but getting anything new in the middle of a fast was extra special.
\nThe smell of something new.
\nThe chance to peel off a price tag.
\nThe thrill of tearing into a gift bag.
\nI was wonderstruck.
\nNothing compares to the love-filled heart of a giver.<\/p>\nNow What?<\/h3>\n
\n