the shopping mall syndrome

Jack, Seth and I went to the mall yesterday.  Wait.  Let me back up ... we went to the mall yesterday because it was pouring down rain in June.  What is that about?!  Anyway, we went so that Jack and I could pick up a few summer clothing items for our Disney Cruise and Disney World trip in a few weeks.  We have a tight budget with me staying home with Seth, but were hoping to find some good deals and deals we found! Neither one of us shop at Aeropostale much, but Jack saw a shirt he liked in the window, so we went in.  We ended up each buying a few items.  I also ended up getting a pair of capris from American Eagle on clearance too:

The best part?  When you see at the bottom of your receipt, "You saved $78.33"!  Serious.  If Jack and I would have purchased everything we did at regular price, we would have spent almost $200.  I absolutely love the pants I got, but I wouldn't pay $49.50 for them ... I paid $20!  And I love the shirt I got, but I wouldn't have paid $46.99.  Crazy how expensive things are #1, and #2 that some people buy them at those prices.  Just because you have the money to spend doesn't mean that a simple white polo shirt with letters on it should cost almost $50.  Some purchases are just foolish.

Despite all of our amazing finds at great prices, there was one part to our trip to the mall that I didn't like.  It's something that I like to call The Shopping Mall Syndrome.  It's something that I'm pretty sure that everyone experiences, and something that we subject our own selves to when we walk through the doors.  It is the feeling of inadequacy.  You're having a good hair day, your jeans are fitting perfectly, you love the outfit you put on, you're feeling pretty and skinny ... and then you step foot inside the mall.  All of a sudden, your hair looks like a stringy mess (oh why can it never have enough body?!), your jeans are so last season (and my butt looks ridiculously flat in them!), you wonder what the heck you were thinking putting your outfit together (man I look like a really tired stay-at-home mom who doesn't care anymore!), you notice every single flaw your face you possibly hold  (and  it looks like it could use 20 more hours of sleep or 5 hours in a make-up chair ... or both), and you've definitely gained a double muffin top since you left the house in the morning (did that extra glass of orange juice really put me over the top?!).  You walk from store to store, noticing all of the gorgeous things and think to your poor, out-dated and dreary closet back home and immediately feel like you need a complete wardrobe overhaul.  Then of course there is a mirror every 2 feet, another reminder of how bad your hair looks that day and how much you really do need another pair of jeans ...

But the amazing part of The Shopping Mall Syndrome?  It's gone as soon as you get home.  One look in the mirror and you realize that your hair and face really do look somewhat okay ... heck, even better than okay.  Your jeans hug your tush juuuuust right and your husband comments on how much he loves that outfit on you.  I hate The Shopping Mall Syndrome.  Malls are supposed to be a place to solve problems by providing you products that you "need"/want.  Instead, they're the problem! They make you feel that who you are and what you already have are so inadequate that you need to buy all of these clothes, shoes, makeup and perfume to fix the problem you didn't know you had before walking in the doors (ok, I admit I learned part of this from a Marketing class I took in college).  

That's why I'm glad I'm a Christian ... one of the many reasons.  I can go into a mall, experience The Syndrome, and yet not take it seriously.  I don't rack up debt buying stuff I don't need.  And I can rest in the fact that I am more than enough, exactly how Christ made me to be, and exactly how Christ loves me.