It’s been over seven (nearly eight!) years since I graduated from college, and as evidenced during my lunch break, I still find myself in an odd state of panic when I go in to an arts supply store. Sigh.
The massive selections of pens, markers and pencils, rows upon of different types of paper, easels and canvases, paintbrushes, triangles, t-squares, stencils coming at me from all directions… AHHHHHHHHHH! SO. MUCH. STUFF. Why am I here again? What do I need? Are they going to have it all? How much is it all going to cost?! What will I forget this time?
I remember the first time I went to the art supplies section of the campus bookstore in college. It was the first day of freshman year and I was given a list of things to buy in my architectural studio class. I didn’t know what half of the things were on the list. I had no idea how much it was going to cost. Hours, three stores, and $250 later, I had what I needed (with a LOT of help from Steven, driving me around to the shops off campus, and telling me what the things were I was told to buy). Next step – figuring out what the instructors wanted me to do with it all…
Looking back now, the amount of discomfort I felt then, and every time I went to get supplies (typically once a week, sometimes several times a day) should have been a sign. A sign I was in the wroooooooong major. Shouldn’t I have been excited, to an extent, to go shopping for supplies to build and draw things? Shouldn’t I have gotten some enjoyment out of it? I bet a lot of my classmates did. For me it was always dread, dread, dread. An icky feeling of anxiety and discomfort I still feel now when I go to an art supplies store – and I certainly wasn’t there to buy drafting or model supplies today!
I don’t think, based on my own experience, that it means you are in the wrong profession.
As a nurse my “art supply store” is the clean hold on the unit. The clean hold is where all of our supplies are held. From a bandaid to a chest tube insertion kit is found in this room. A clean hold can be small or large with one shelf to rolling shelves that move along a track system. To me, especially working in a new unit, the clean hold is the scariest place in the entire hospital. It’s impossible to be familiar with everything in there. The manufactures are constantly changing the convents of the various kits or the color/size of the packaging.
I’ve often considered the clean hold a form of hazing. Once you are familiar with it they change it up! Keeps me on my feet or slapping myself because I’ve been standing in the same spot for 5 mins looking for a particular dressing.
Maybe your anxiety is just a response to the ever changingness of your profession?
You really hit the nail on the head with that one! A lot of my panic is not knowing where the heck things are and feeling panicked about it. It sounds like the clean hold is the same way. Kind of like the grocery stores, when they move things around to try to get you to buy new stuff but it just makes you anxious and upset you can’t find the stuff you used to buy!
I think my anxiety is a lot of feeling like I picked the wrong thing. I have no desire to become a licensed architect and wouldn’t be upset if I left the profession. Oops! 😉
Maybe the anxiety is just related to too many options! I am always afraid how much I will buy if I step foot into one. I used to work at Hobby Lobby in college and I swear I would only see half my paychecks.
I think that is A LOT of it!!! LOL at the Hobby Lobby paycheck! What did you like to get?
All of that stuff reminds me of the closet where my dad used to keep all of his old drafting supplies when I was a kid! So sorry you felt all of that anxiety. Hope you can steer clear of the art store for a while!
Was/is your dad in the architecture profession, too?
I will stay out of there! I was just in a pinch, picking up some knitting stuff to teach a friend while we are out of town together!
I don’t think it’s a sign you’re in the wrong profession – if that were the case, you would probably feel more bored and put-upon having to go into the store than anything. I wonder if a lot of your anxiety is from overstimulation. There’s a rush of excitement seeing all the cool stuff, but all the options can be overwhelming. Studies have shown that when consumers have more options, they are actually less likely to make a purchase. We think we like the freedom of more choices more than we actually do – more often than not, it’s just overwhelming and paralyzing! Plus, a lot of people really just don’t like shopping 🙂
Oh my gosh – I wonder if that is why I like shopping at ALDI so much – less options and I am in and out of there fast. Target makes me anxious and I really dislike shopping in general. The idea of going to a thrift shop WAY overwhelms me. You are on to something!
It would certainly make me wonder.
So you knew Steven even before you started your freshman year of classes?
Steven and I met the Friday before classes started freshman year 🙂
I also find this kind of experience really overwhelming and stressful–having to go pick up all the different materials. So you’re not alone! The cost is one part, but actually rushing around and getting it all is so much worse. I’d rather pay the same amount and just get a “pre-assembled” package of all my supplies. For some reason, that is way more appealing to me. Even now, for sewing projects, I really hate the stress of having to pick fabric (What size? How much? Ugh!), thread, etc.
Yes! That is it! Gosh, I am happy I wrote about this because you and a few commenters went in to the psychology of shopping and made me feel much better. I bet now, at my school, they do have a kit for the students. Things have changed a lot! Guess we just need personal shoppers, now? A few people thought it was odd I was going back to the place I learned to knit to get the new yarn for Christina’s scarf, since it would be more expensive, but I knew if I went there they would help me and do most of the work of picking it out and that made me feel more confident about it, in general!
So funny,well maybe funny is the wrong word….how about interesting, that you still have those emotions so many years later! I like looking around in art stores but I almost never buy anything. TOO MANY CHOICES.
Maybe we all just need to visit specialty shops with less?!
Ok I could have written this! I was not an art major by any means but I did take lots of studio classes and felt the same stress in those stores. Everything was SO hard to find and SO $$$! Maybe those stores need to rethink that shopping experience??
Ha ha, maybe they do, for some of us! I bet there are some people who love to go in there and get lost in all the stuff… but I just want to get what I need and go! Maybe we need personal shoppers 😉
I haven’t got an artistic bone in my body. I am lost in any kind of craft or art store lol
I have this kind of reaction every time I go grocery shopping :/
Oh yeah, I feel ya on the grocery shopping! That is why I like to shop at ALDI, since there are so few options – they either have what I need or don’t. I get panicked when I get to the bigger store!