The Safer Shopping Therapy?

Why Pinning Feeds Your Brain—But Only God Restores Your Heart

In my twenties, shopping was my coping mechanism.

Bad day? Target run.
Feeling aimless? New throw pillows.
Stressed? Add to cart.

I didn’t realize I was using spending to regulate my emotions. Until I was $20,000 in debt and surrounded by things I didn’t actually need, and feelings I never actually faced.

That’s when I started to understand something psychologists have long known:
Just the act of imagining a future purchase—browsing, saving, curating—can light up the same reward centers in the brain as buying.

It’s called anticipatory dopamine.

Our brains feel a boost just by thinking about beauty, change, and possibility. Which is why I now consider Pinterest the gentler, wiser version of shopping therapy.

No checkout. No guilt. No clutter. Just ideas. Just hope. Just a little window shopping for the soul.

So go ahead—pin that She Shed, those lemon-blueberry scones, that walk-in pantry with the glass jars.

You’re not overspending.
You’re practicing creativity.
You’re delighting in beauty and possibility—something God designed us for. Because He didn’t wire us to shop our way to peace. He wired us to look for beauty, to imagine renewal, to hope for something more. And hope, unlike debt, is a gift that gives back.

But remember, Pinterest may give your brain a little lift, but only God gives rest to your soul.

So pin what inspires you. Just don’t forget to close the app, quiet your heart, and talk to the One who makes all things new.