Messages By: rosita102

I am a conpulsive shopper who works on recovery every day. I still have moments of weakness, mostly brought on by frustration,but I have learned that I need to step back and take a moment to think about things before I give into the need to shop.I really don't know when this started for me.  I have always enjoyed going shopping with friends from the social aspect, but the addictive part started after I had gotten married and there were several  major changes in my life, I moved away, worked at a new hospital on the night shift (I am a nurse)left my family and friends so I lost my outside support group. I don't like to blame things on my husband, because that is not fair, but working nights made me more dependent upon him for socializing and I think he became somewhat resentful about my dependence upon him.Shopping by myself became a comfort measure. It was lo cal fat free and non judgemental.also qvc and on line shopping make this all the more easier to use as a quick fix.three years ago I had racked up $5000 in credit card charges and my spouse had a melt down .Since then I don't use the cards anymore. I  also brought out some major issues that we were having in our marriage that I still grapple with today. Using cash only has made it eaiser to deal with my addiction,which is what it is. The advice I can give to anyone out there who is looking for help is to start out by taking baby steps try to address the real issues bothering you not only the destructive behavior.Follow the guidelines used by AA And remember to take your recover one day at a time.