We often cope with life's problems by retail therapy, but this creates an addictive behavior.




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Many people have trouble with gaining control over their personal finances because they have been taught from an early age to cope with life's problems by buying things. Eventually this coping strategy becomes an addiction. In this video, I talk about the flawed coping strategy of spending money and how to break away from this addiction.


1. Start Viewing Spending Money As An Addiction

We often don't see consumerism and spending money on stuff as an addiction because it is normalized behavior in society. Many people have habits where they'll have packages come to their house every day or live with clutter, that we undermine that the behavior is actually addictive. In order to break away from this addictive behavior of spending money, you first need to recognize that it is addictive behavior.

2. Recognize The Harms of The Addiction

Like all addictions, there are many harms that come from spending money on stuff like financial hardships, being overwhelmed, and feeling insufficient. These harms are the side effects that you experience when you spend too much money on stuff and many of these take away some of the joy from life. In order to break away from this addictive behavior, you second need to recognize the harms.

3. Understand The Root Causes of The Addiction

We often cope with life's problems of stress, anxiety, and depression by spending money on stuff hoping that it will bring joy in life; however, this coping strategy intensifies these problems because of the harms that result from it. You cannot fix stress, anxiety, and depression by intensifying the emotions through spending money. In order to break away from this addictive behavior, you need to understand what is making you seek this coping strategy and see that it's intensifying the emotions.

4. Identify And Ditch The Capitalist Trap

Spending money on stuff to cope with life's problems is just a capitalist trap because it makes you think that the answer to life's problems are by spending money. This method, however, is fundamentally flawed because it only creates more problems in your life. In order to break away from this behavior, you need to identify that it is a capitalist trap and ditch this coping strategy.

5. Find A New Coping Mechanism

Many people have trouble to gain control over their finances and stop spending money and it is because for our entire lives we are taught to cope with our problems by spending money. Once you learn exactly why this coping strategy doesn't work, it becomes slightly easier to start searching for new coping strategies to deal with life's problems. Take 30 days to not buy anything unnecessary and reflect on how it changes your behavior. Once you complete this challenge, you can decide if it has made you life better or worse.

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