I couldn’t think of a more clever title for this entry. Shopping. I don’t care for it…especially IN a store. Online shopping I can do with ease and with very little discomfort or distress. But going to an actual store to shop is another story.

Even 8 1/2 years after my rupture and over a year after my clipping, shopping in stores still causes me and my blinged-out brain some issues. Mostly in stores I don’t frequent as much. If I have trouble finding what I’m looking for, it means I have to go through every aisle and rack multiple times, over and over again. It requires thinking, seeing and concentrating in very compact spurts. Almost like power thinking. It’s extremely tiring and can give me an instant headache and eye strain. There is just too much visual stimulation and requires my brain to process a lot of information and data at once.

All the more frustrating was that I couldn’t find the main thing I went to that particular store to get in the first place. This is also one of the main reasons I shop online…I can find what I’m looking for much easier and in less time. Yes, I cannot try it on immediately, but I can always return something if it doesn’t fit.

I know I’m not the only aneurysm survivor who experiences issues in stores, but it still gets a tad frustrating…and just a wee bit painful. I know I could have far worse side-effects and deficits from my brain aneurysms, so I consider myself very lucky. Some discomfort on those rare occasions when I DO go into a shopping store is a small price to pay.

But this is MY blog and I can complain if I want to, right? 🙂