Life is strange and we all can vouch for how unpredictable it is – thanks to the 2 years of lockdowns and the painful pandemic.
Never did any of us imagine that we would be so restricted ever in our lives. Thankfully we were supposed to be at home and with our loved ones. Plus there is technology that gives us access to everyone, anyone and anything anywhere in the world.
We faced similar situations, our buying methods changed, we took to online purchasing and got used to everything getting delivered to our doorstep.
We learnt to make the most of available resources. We learnt to give and give more to others. We learnt to empathise and feel the pain of others.
We all saw something change within us and we still carry that change, which is a good thing.
What the lockdowns did to me is that it made me learn to rely on limited resources to fulfil my needs to live a basic and normal-ish life. Stuff I needed to buy for the house, food items, personal care items, medication, sanitising stuff, etc. What happened in this process is that I stuck to what I needed. What was required. There was no casual browsing.
Casual browsing that I was so used to, walking through aisle after aisle to look at products, check them out and allow the marketing & branding to make me an impulse buyer. I enjoyed this process of discovering a good product.
Last week I went to a physical store and I bought stuff as per my list and walked out !! I knew something was very different when I was inside the store because I went to spots that I knew would have the products I was looking for. My eyes did not wander, they were focussed only on what I was looking for. I remember thinking of going to other aisles, but I didn’t feel the need to! One part of me was very pleased with this response, but there is a sad part of me, the one that loves getting pushed into buying new things, the part of me that loves discovery and the thrill of trying something new.
This ‘Visual Editing’ that happened was new. Of Course it saved me from spending money, time and energy. Why I call it ‘Visual Editing’ is because nothing new fell into the scope of my vision. If I don’t see it, how will I buy it?
Did I do justice to myself? Do I feel deprived? No, not really. I just fully understand that this thing has shifted inside of me and the explorer has taken a back seat. I hope it changes as I continue to get used to shopping at a physical store.
Until then, all the marketing & branding people will just have to keep trying harder to get my attention.
Very interesting!
It can be good as well as bad! But then in an era where we have limited time, resources and energy it works wonderfully!
The beauty is that – the explorer in you can be brought out whenever needed!