yinzer

When I was drinking, I would tend to get on Amazon and my other favorite shopping websites and buy things. I didn't always remember it the next day or days later when stuff would show up.

I stopped drinking three weeks ago, but somehow I'm still doing the evening shopping thing and don't always totally remember it the next day. How does this happen? Is it some kind of other mind altering addiction? The stuff I buy is usually something I want and I can always afford it, but it strikes me as very strange that I'm sober and still feel like I'm drunken shopping online.

Jsbodhi

Not sure, but I wake up a lot of mornings panicking about what I said, texted, wrote; even though I haven't been drinking.
It takes me a moment to remember that; and I still scroll through my texts on my phone to make sure I didn't send anything and don't remember.
Xo
Some old habits die hard.
Maybe you're on autopilot- try to leave a huge note on your computer screen not to buy anything.
You might just need to put a bit of work into breaking the habit.

Best wishes

Soberwolf

Congrats on 3 weeks sober & no more drunken shopping

doggonecarl

I have interests that I support, in part, with online purchases. I've noticed the looking for, purchasing, and anticipation of delivery of the package to be very similar to my drug use. Even to the emotional let down that follows the purchase and the buildup to the next purchase.

I hesitate to call it an addiction, my life is hardly unmanageable because I shop on Esty, but I can see how it can be for others.

Gonzoso

I remember doing that drunk then I'd forget and it would be like christmas!

yinzer

I normally like the stuff I buy and it supports other habits or things I want to do, but I find it strange that I don't always remember it the next day until prompted. Like a shopping blackout. Maybe I'm tired when I do it.

Berrybean

I reckon the postal servuce probably had to make some redundancies when I got sober. But still, seriously I can get a real buzz from shopping. And one purchase leads to another and another. I've had to treat that (and other *ahem* quick-emotional-fix behaviours) as I do the alcohol. Obviously, things that you have to do a bit of, such as buying things and eating, although less destructive than drinking, are more tricky because we can't go cold turkey with them. For lent I gave up buying clothes. It was ridiculously difficult to stop myself absent mindedly wandering onto websites or into shops after a bad day at work or if I'd been disappointed by something. I have to constantly remind myself that these behaviours don't make me happy for longer than half an hour or so. Never did. Never will. Hopefully it'll get easier as time passes.