by Gabrielle Schrader

Created on: June 22, 2009   Last Updated: July 08, 2009

Dozens of people everyday shop their blues away. They walk down aisles looking at window displays or browse through the racks at their favorite stores. Some visit malls and shopping centers they've never been to before. Just take a look at the recent movie release, Confessions of a Shopaholic.

In this movie, a young girl went shopping for every emotion under the sun but she ended up spending much more than she should have. In the end, she realizes that she did not have to shop as much as she did. She begins to understand that the important thing was her friends and family.

Not to say that shopping the blues away is bad. In fact, it can be overly helpful and beneficial at the same time. However, if you are spending lots of money each time, it becomes not a helpful event but a disastrous event that could turn into an addiction. Shopping addictions sound amusing and they sound unrealistic. Yet they are real, and far more people have them than they realize. Shopping addictions can be painful to others who depend on the financial support every month, such as spouses, parents or children.

I personally love to shop the blues away, and my favorite place to do it in is the bookstore. I love books and I love reading. When I spend all day in a bookstore, regardless of whether I buy anything or not, I come out energized, ready to read, and overjoyed. I just love reading and seeing all of the new books makes my heart beat faster. It does not even matter if I buy anything or no. It only matters that I understand this one vital point. It matters that I am enjoying myself without spending ridiculous amounts of money each time I go. I have to be careful with how I use my finances on buying new books.

My mother's shopping fetish is purses. She loves them. I can walk right past, but my mother wants to examine each one individually. She wants to try them on, walk around wearing them, etc. You get the picture. Purses just make her truly happy. I don't mind. She spends all day looking at them and she always wants one. However, my mother exercises control and many times comes home without that "beloved purse". She understands that she has financial responsibilities. She has children, a spouse and others that depend on her. She cannot go out and blow all of her money on purses. She must be careful with how she spends her money.

Shopping the blues away can be a very fun thing to do and can definitely make you feel much better than you were previously feeling. However, just like anything else in life, you must exercise proper caution.

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