Shopping always made me anxious, not because of social anxiety, but due to the uncertainty of whether I had picked the best pair of shoes or the perfect denim. & then i switched to online shopping in hope of finding the best purchase with some good deal too. Well, it sounds normal deal for anyone, i mean all of us do have an account on amazon, don’t we? But little was i aware of the traps i am about to fall into. I got what i wanted, ‘options’ & ‘filter’ to filter my need but guess what they were too many that i just can’t afford to check all and scan out which one is for me.

Have i got the best deal?

Now there is not only one site but many selling the same item. I can’t afford to regret later that same product was available with low price & free delivery. Also, how can I forget to check if there was any coupon applicable & on which card, by the way i have already applied for third major card to cover the loophole of missing out any major discount in festive season.

The reason for which i opted online did not materialised. At least in stores i had other factors like distance, free time etc. which were limiting my search. But now online i have options that i never imagined & i can browse anytime i wish. In other words, the dilemma remained intact.

Menu is not the meal

Anyhow if i reached the pay now button & placed the order successfully, there came another option ‘hassle free return or exchange’. The item which looked all perfect is not even near what was shown in the image. The reality is that i am not convinced yet that i have bought the perfect article best suited to my needs & budget. After totally convinced that i made a wrong purchase & i have a chance to avert it i return it. Now i look back at my circular shopping journey. If i express it in physics, distance is x but displacement zero, lol!

Learning

While online shopping is time saving and there is a large catalogue of products available but in my experience it’s not advisable ‘every time’ especially if you feel you face anxiety in making choices. We do not want to be held irresponsible by buying things as bad choices. This mental cognition works against us and makes online shopping another reason for anxiety. I have faced it & suffered too, realizing much later that i was hurting myself unknowingly. Sometimes we just browse the app or site to kill the time we have free. This is a bad habit, i have stopped it. I have learned to make effective use of free time, how? Well, you’re reading it now. Yes, i have channeled my free time & energy into sharing my life lived experience with the world & it’s so satisfying. I hope this blog may have touched your part of life too, if yes then please share your experience in comments.

Desi Neo.