Online shopping is the most useful tool in my tool in my tiny tool box. Whether you need groceries, clothes or home décor – it is all at the click of a button! So convenient, but some say it is lazy – well some have reliable transportation and don’t have a clue about the struggle. Online shopping platforms such as Amazon.com have been a saving grace for me many times. It literally keeps me an independent woman, wife and future mother. I do not need to rely on others or be a burden to the one’s closest to me. Moreover, you’ll get more of a selection and you will most likely save a lot more money shopping this way! It’s a win, win, win! More importantly though you can do it yourself. Most recently I have created a baby registry, bought all my maternity clothes, nursery furniture and décor. I honestly could not do it with the access of online shopping.

    In case you did not know: Online shopping is a popular type of commerce that allows consumers to directly buy goods or services over the Internet. Consumers are able to find products by using a web browser or a mobile app. Consumers find a product by visiting a website or by searching products by using a search engine like Google. “As of 2020, customers can shop online using a range of different computers and devices, including desktop computers, laptops, tablet computers and smartphones.”  Allowing this much access through the various devices opens many open windows for disadvantaged individuals to live a normal life. It only takes a click of a button to get what you need!

     It did not take me long to find this amazing tool. I think I made my first online purchase in 2006, only 2 years after I graduated high school. By this time I had been married for a year and living 1900 miles away from home in Belleville, Illinois. I was a military wife and in my first year of college – struggling to find new ways to get around, buy groceries and not burden my new husband. We had a very limited budget and we were constantly broke as a joke – living off of rent to own furniture, top ramen and canned crap concoctions. The furniture was always getting repossessed and luckily people in this small Midwest town had a lot of respect for their military. Ultimately our marriage fell apart due to this stress and my inability to help the situation. If I had access to the online world we have now in 2021, maybe our marriage would have survived.

     In 2007, I moved back home to Ventura, California – where there was public transportation, Vons.com was delivering to my door and my college was within walking distance. I also was able to find steady work with an online database for people in my area that needed limited in-home care. Finally I felt like a human again – getting around, getting groceries, getting an education and working without anyone else in the equation. There was still criticism in my inner circle, saying I could be doing more. I felt like I had just miraculously risen from the dead and then it was not enough. I feel into a shameful depression and just shamefully continued – I could not think any other way to do it.

     It was not until 2020 when I started feeling like everyone is on my level. The world essentially shutdown on everyone, no one could leave their house and getting groceries was a nightmare… Fortunately for me I have been shutdown for years and I got this pandemic by the ‘you know what.’ Over the years I have learned to stock up on essentials and even mastered internet shopping. That February I put a table out front of my home and stocked it with fresh fruits and essentials I had excess of, it became quite popular throughout my neighborhood. My neighbors enjoyed it so much that they started donated, Food Share even dropped off excess food that they had left over from drive-thru food drives. I finally felt like I was ahead of the times, while everyone else was groaning about not getting mani-pedis. I have been hell bent for years to make it on my own, it only took a pandemic for others to understand my struggles. It’s not lazy to try and survive without vision and what others take for granted.

     It took a pandemic for me to realize that I am a strong independent woman and wife. (I remarried to an amazing man March 2021). Without the pandemic and my years of online shopping experience, I do not think I would have been so calm when I found out I was pregnant soon after. I have the confidence now to get through anything, even a surprise pregnancy, no sweat! The internet has given me so much of a normal life that I thought I could never have. It has given me great confidence to feel independent and move forward – away from a shameful depression. It took me a long time to feel like this, but I am glad I am finally here – living & happy.

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