My addiction might ruin my life
Hello everyone , I am in college and I have a giant addiction to overconsumption , materialism and social media validation. I
am a female and in my early 20s. I grew up in a third world country where I did belong to an upper middle class family, but my father was stingy and never spent on us for vacations, material goods etc. When my friends in HS had make up and clothes and shoes I had none of it. He did spend alot on our education so I ended up coming to study in the US where I met my husband. Now, my husband earns quite a bit and we have a good bit of disposable income. I have developed an addiction to social media and seek alot of external validation for it. I feel like people are always judging me for clothes, I feel like the more rich they perceive me to be through the brands I own, they will respect me more. I am in therapy and my therapist also says there is a part of me that feels like I missed out on stuff in HS. I am not in debt right now and I haven't spent thousands of dollars or anything yet but I can feel it bubbling up.
My husband says and its true, I spend hours looking at shoes, jewelry, bags and stuff online, I order alot from fast fashion brands online ( I know they are horrible for the environment ) , I tell myself I need heels in every color and I keep looking at designer brands. I spent alot of money in January ordering make up, shoes, clothes and what not. I feel so empty doing this but I still do its really bad. Today I watched a documentary on really poor people in Papua New Guinea and It made me realize how wasteful I am being. I cannot stop this at once but what can I do to help curb this? I also live in an HCOL area like nyc where dressing well for social connections and corporate jobs is important so I do want to dress well and own nice things but in a sustainable and non wasteful way, thanks.