I valued convenience over the experience of doing anything for myself. That wasn’t reflective of my work ethic overall, and it wasn’t true of all the skills my parents had and passed along.

One lesson I’ve learned countless times over the years is that whenever you let go of something negative in your life, you make room for something positive.

I’d catch myself dancing in the kitchen as I waited for my coffee to brew. I sat a little taller at my desk, while I worked to cross off every last task from my to-do list. With my shoulders back, I took deeper breaths that filled my lungs and my body with hope. The end was near and I could finally breathe again.

At the end of the day, remember this: The success of your shopping ban will depend on the stories you tell yourself throughout it. If you think it’s hard, you run a higher risk of quitting and even binge-shopping after. But if you appreciate what you have and actually use what you buy, the results could be life-changing.

Why do my friends still talk to me? I would ask myself. I am a terrible person. I didn’t just feel guilty, I was deeply ashamed of my actions. In her second TED Talk, “Listening to Shame,” Brené Brown says the difference is that guilt equals I did something bad, and shame equals I am bad. I was a permanent resident of the world of shame. I told

However, I decided to also set a stretch goal for myself. Stretch goals were something I had first learned about through reading personal finance blogs. People set them to challenge themselves to accomplish something even faster than they thought they could—by stretching their limits, so to speak. I had set stretch goals to pay off my debt sooner.

Because I was only allowed to buy one new sweatshirt, as an example, it had to be the best. Not the best brand or the most expensive or the highest quality. It had to be the best for me.

people I spent more when I could have spent less. Even though

kept so many things, and consumed the wrong things, all because I never felt like I was good enough. I wasn’t smart enough or professional enough or talented enough or creative enough. I didn’t trust that who I was or what I brought to the table in any situation was already unique, so I bought things that could make me better.