A lot of times I have absolutely no clue of what makes me happy. One of those times is shopping, especially shopping for deals.
If you walk through the malls, full of shoppers fishing for deals this time of the year, you’d think people are there to buy stuff for themselves or someone they love. You’d think this is what they want. You’d think it is planned and fun and it is where they want to be. After all, so much money and so many hours and so much effort went into the trip. But, there is a lot of frustration, exhaustion and fatigue in words, walk and expressions.
And I wonder why?
Of course there is exhaustion because there’s is walking, trying, choosing, waiting in queues, buying, regretting. But there’s the added, even manufactured, exhaustion of ‘have to buy’. We buy because there’s a deal, because there’s holiday season and perhaps because we can. That is double time (triple time) exhaustion.
It seems Christmas throws up all over the mall an hour after thanks giving dinner. Is the window display and shopping bag the new symbol of the spirit of festive season? Commercialization has driven us to a point where shopping is the festivity, even a necessity. No wonder then, happiness rides in back seat.
It is not that I don’t like gifts, I love gifts. I love gifts more when they make me happy. And I like shopping. But, not when bargain clock is ticking. And I get that to gain something you have to give something away – credit card, sleep perhaps a day off. But, if the new blender, a new pair of gloves, a shiny phone were a result of ‘have to get you something’, does tearing the wrapping paper have the same excitement?
I guess a crazy experiment next year of letting go of the ‘need to shop’ might help decide – is it the season, the gifts, the bargains? Not sure how it will work for economy but for an individual it just might just work as level set.
