We have all been there.
It’s 5:30 PM. You had a terrible day at work. Maybe your boss was unreasonable, or maybe a client yelled at you. You sat in traffic for forty-five minutes on the way home.
You are tired. You are frustrated. You feel like you deserve something good.
So, you pull out your phone. You open an app. And you click “Buy.”
Experts call this “Emotional Spending.” I call it being human.
When we are stressed, our brains are desperate for a chemical called dopamine. It’s the “feel-good” chemical. Buying something new gives us a quick hit of it. It fixes the bad mood instantly—at least for a few minutes.
I used to do this with books. If I had a bad week, I would go to the bookstore and buy three hardcovers. I wouldn’t even read them right away. I just needed the feeling of holding them. It was my way of taking control back from a bad day.
But that “therapy” gets expensive.
I want to know your “Go-To.”
We all have a specific weakness.
Tell me in the comments:
What is your comfort buy? (Is it a vanilla latte? A new video game? Ordering pizza?)
How do you feel after you buy it? (Do you feel better, or do you feel guilty?)
Let’s be honest about it. Once we know what our triggers are, it is a lot easier to stop them.
