If you want to be a happy shopper, walk into the store or pull up the storefront and choose from the options before you. I want to be happy, but I don’t shop that way. I am a self destructive shopper. I get ideas about what would be a great gift for someone without considering what actually exists. I have a mental idea of the type of shirt I want before looking to see what my choices are for a new or new to me shirt.

Because I do it wrong, shopping is frustrating to me. It is a chore instead of the fun that the rest of the world seems to experience when shopping. I deliberately avoid professional shopping holidays like the day after Thanksgiving. It’s just not my thing.

Part of me feels like I am broken. My operating system is lacking the shopping app. Another part of me feels like advertising agencies are not doing their job to program my subconscious to want what they are selling. More than either of those feelings, I feel like, regardless of the mountains of petroleum based, made everywhere but America products in the marketplace, there are still limitless quantities of innovation and creativity that are waiting to be developed.