Do you ever feel like an oddball?

[pezar]

Newsweek magazine (USA) recently came out with the following story, about Americans returning to their old shop till you drop habits despite not being able to afford to carry the debt they already have:

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/11/29/the-urge-to-splurge-is-creeping-back.html

In a culture which encourages this kind of behavior, do you ever feel weird or odd for rejecting it? I know that I have a hard time finding women who DON'T love to shop, one big reason why I'm still single. Ladies, do you ever feel like people think there's something wrong with you if you don't see shopping as "retail therapy"? I bought some new clothes at the beginning of last year (the old ones were too small, and back then I was still gaining weight) and they've already got ragged edges and small seam holes in them, and I absolutely hate the thought of having to buy clothes AGAIN, and there are people out there with 100 pairs of shoes and 30 pairs of jeans, and who buy clothes every weekend, and they must think that people like us are loony. I have to constantly tell myself that I'm the sane one. Swimming upstream is not easy. I know we shouldn't care, but humans are social animals, hardwired to reject the odd guy out.

[SteveSalmon]

~SS

[adventure!]

I feel like an oddball all the time.

it used to bother me when I was younger and I would get anxiety about it because I felt I had some sort of need to be accepted. over the years, though, I've learned to accept who I am, and if anyone else doesn't like it, well, too bad for them.