Put it back on the rack
Shopping taught me how to let go.
After a long couple weeks of class presentations and essays, I treated myself to a shopping day down East End. I haven鈥檛 gone there in ages, and I鈥檝e been seeing all over Instagram pictures of new stores opening in the area, so I figured it was a good time to visit. 聽
The first shop that I went to was a bright, green consignment store called Goodbyes. They鈥檝e got a good selection of preloved vintage, modern and designer items on display, so I got to browsing. As I was going through the racks, I stumbled upon two bags that immediately caught my attention 鈥 one was a hobo handbag on sale for $50 and the other was a crossbody-messenger hybrid. For context, I鈥檓 going through a bag phase right now, particularly those two styles I mentioned.聽
I tried them on in the mirror but couldn鈥檛 come to a decision on the day, so I left it. I came back a couple days later, but with a friend this time for a second opinion. Unfortunately, the hobo bag just wasn鈥檛 right and the one that was 鈥 the hybrid 鈥 was not on sale and a little bit out of my budget, so with a heavy heart, I put those two back on the rack and pray that we will be reunited one day in the future.聽
Without realising at the time, that devastating shopping experience taught me a valuable lesson: sometimes you just have to let what isn鈥檛 meant for you go.聽
I know that鈥檚 hardly a lesson because well, it鈥檚 sort of common sense right, to say that we should just move on from whatever that wasn鈥檛 meant for us but accepting that isn鈥檛 always easy. Sure, if it was something that hardly meant anything to you, then maybe it wouldn鈥檛 be so hard to just say, 鈥淥h well, that鈥檚 fine, it鈥檚 just not for me!鈥澛
What if that bag was a dream job? Or a dream home? Heck, even just a dream bag! Whatever, it might be, giving up on something you really, really want is never easy. Yet, reality will sometimes tell us 鈥 harsh as it may be 鈥 that what you want is not necessarily what you will get.聽
Often, that鈥檚 for the better. Not everything we desire will necessarily do us any good and rushing into it might just leave us unhappy or unsatisfied down the line. Let me give you another one of my shopping anecdotes. There was this pair of boots that I really liked and couldn鈥檛 stop thinking about, so to secure it before it was gone forever (the store barely went on sale, so I knew I had to snag it before somebody else did), I made the rash decision to buy it. I was happy when it came but a year went by, and I鈥檝e only worn those boots once.聽
Not great.聽
No matter how desperate I was for it, it ended up doing nothing for me, except took funds out of my bank account. They just weren鈥檛 meant for me. Had I been patient and realised that I wasn鈥檛 going to like it as much without the thrill of a sale, I probably would have saved some money.
Who knew shopping could be so philosophical?