consumerism

I'm supposed to write an essay on "the consumer gaze"- how people view items and brands, how advertising encourages us to purchase, how advertising pulls the wool over our eyes and fools us into thinking we need a certain item, etc etc etc. But instead of writing I find myself on landsend.com simply itching to buy stuff. argh. My self-control has been in a very poor state. In regards to clothes, in regards to food. I've acquired so many items of clothing since coming to college. granted, half of them are from the co-op, so I didn't actually spend money for them. But I really don't need them. I need to control myself. I think I got a job partly out of guilt for spending that money on clothes. I was able to stop myself this time by thinking about how much I already have and what I could do for other people with the money I was about to spend.

And of course food we've already discussed. I think. Oh food. How much joy I derive from the taste sensations, yet how awful I feel when I eat too much dessert (like the brownies I had with lunch today) or look in the mirror and see my tummy bulge. oy vey. Who knew the freshmen 15 was really an issue. No, I haven't gained fifteen pounds...yet. I went running for 1/2 an hour today. It's just so hard to fit it in with my schedule...Wednesdays I'm going from 0800-2100, essentially.

Eat salad eat salad eat salad. No new clothes no new clothes no new clothes. I can do this I can do this I can do this.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

I also need to get back into the habit of Scripture memory. Lord, help me.