We've all been there. We need one tiny, insignificant item: a small tube of toothpaste, a pack of band-aids, some lightbulbs, or whatever it may be. We logically reason with ourselves that Target is the perfect place to go. And that, my friends, is our first mistake.

Going to Target ALWAYS seems like a really great idea. Regardless of the existing circumstances, its (usually) close, convenient, and its got everything you could ever need! It's absolutely wondrous- until you return to the real world with two cartfuls of purchases you didn't intend to make and its a different season of a different year from when you entered the store.

Its a totally weird dynamic though, because Target seems to be the only store like this. I can go into Walmart or Kmart or Macy's and walk out ten minutes later not having made a purchase at all. However, I find it impossible to ever spend less than an hour in Target, and I physically cannot leave without buying SOMETHING. Walking out of Target empty-handed feels like a loss like I've disappointed some higher power by not buying the rose gold stapler that I definitely do not need.

Shopping at Target has become a sort of disease for some of us.

Stressed? Go to Target.

Need q-tips? Go to Target, and promptly proceed to buy everything else you see and forget the q-tips.

Want coffee? Go to Target, because some of them have a Starbucks inside.

It's an epidemic. And to combat this epidemic that I've personally been wrestling with since I got my license and thus had the ability to transport myself to Target, I've decided to just avoid the store altogether. If I pretend it doesn't exist, I can't go inside, so by default, I can't waste my money on things I really don't need, right? RIGHT?

Unfortunately, the need to go to Target always arises. It is a simple fact of existing. It is an omnipresent thought that I get lulled into thinking I can satiate with a trip to the paradise itself when really all it does it fuel future Target adventures.

Fake plants. Pineapple wall decor. Bright blue mason jars. Things. I. Don't. Need. Things I've never needed and will never need in the near and foreseeable future. But nevertheless, things I just HAD to have. Because shopping at this godforsaken store is so easy to do and so impossible to avoid.

If you've never felt any of these very real emotions about a store before, then you've obviously never shopped at Target. And honestly, maybe it's better that way. Target has a mind of its own, and many of us find ourselves unable to resist the temptation of the warm and glowing red circles.

Target tells us what we need, but sometimes all we need is Target.