Where is the dress?? – Being obsessed with something

I was waiting for a bus to take me to work one morning and across the road in the window of a charity/opp shop that hadn’t opened yet, stood a beautiful and colourful dress in the 1950s style. To say I love the 50s fashion is an understatement. I even used it a few times in my modelling days. I could not stop staring at it. You could say I was obsessed.

You may also like – For the love of 50s fashion

Today I want to talk about obsession and how us humans have a tendency to fixate on something or someone. The word ‘obsession’ means an idea or thought that continually preoccupies or intrudes on a person’s mind.

See, want, buy tendency

I have a terrible habit of the ‘See, Want, Buy’ method of shopping. Rarely have I been able to walk away from something I like and that is why my cupboard is bursting at the seams. Lately, I have had to learn to pause and think about the necessity of the item I am looking at, due to various reasons, including financial difficulties.

Upon seeing the dress in the window, I knew straight away I wanted it and my mind went straight to ‘Must have’. I stared at it while waiting for the bus and talked about it for ages while working at my housekeeping job. You could definitely say I was immediately obsessed with this dress. Things have been tight financially speaking for me lately since starting my own business, as it has been a slow start but that hasn’t stopped me before. This time however pausing needed to come into play.

Timing is so important!! Not a week earlier, I made the mistake of buying something I really didn’t need because I wanted it. That ended up putting me into the red and freaking out a little. The timing on that purchase was really poor and it was a lesson I needed to learn. (I hate this adulting thing sometimes!!).

Think before you buy

While I was out shopping a couple weeks after seeing the dress, the first thing I said as I walked into that particular shop was ‘The dress is gone’. At the time, all that was going through my head was the disappointment of missing out on the dress. It wasn’t until I was brain storming blog post ideas that this post came to mind. When you find yourself obsessing over something you want, PAUSE and ask yourself these questions-

• Can I afford to buy this item?
• How will it affect the necessary payments that are queued up to go out of my account, i.e. bills, rent, food?
• Do you have space to accommodate this item?
• How necessary is the item? Do you really need it?
• If you buy the item, can you get rid of something else so you aren’t continually bring more things in?

These questions have helped me lately when deciding what things I can and cannot have. I’m not going to lie to you and say it will be easy, because it won’t. But every so often you can just indulge and get something just because you want without having that feeling of guilt or not having space for it because you have bought too many things you didn’t really need. And to make things better, that indulgence will feel even better and so more enjoyable.

So to the person who bought the dress, I hope you get as much enjoyment out of it as I would have and always remember PAUSE and THINK before buying!!!

Until next time…