I recently wrote an article on Overcoming Emotional Spending over at Queercents. I thought this article would be very relevant to all my readers here because the spending has nothing to do with spending at all — it has to do with what you are trying to get or avoid by spending. For example: Spending to:
- Attempt to “buy” love
- Avoid feelings you have of being unworthy
- Dull the pain of staying stuck in a career you hate
- Gain others’ approval
- …. and a million other reasons you might try to buy happiness and contentment from the outside
The truth is — most of the time we don’t buy things just to have “stuff”. We buy because of how it makes us feel. For some people it is the “stuff” that they have that gives them that adrenaline rush, for others it is the actual act of shopping that does it. If you find yourself in money troubles but can’t seem to follow a budget or plan without having your emotions take over and start grabbing the credit card, you may be struggling with emotional spending.
And if you’re struggling with emotional spending you are depleting yourself of energy you could use on much more fulfilling pursuits or on achieving what you really want from your life.
Want to know more? Hop on over to read the full article and learn the 5 key steps to overcoming emotional spending.