Becky is on vacation ! I am honored to be guest blogging for her. I wish she spends a beautiful vacation and comes back all relaxed.
Please go visit and wish her a good vacation !
On to my post…
I’m sure you know someone who does this. Maybe you do it too.
A friend of mine almost always keeps stuff for a rainy day or a special occasion. She receives beauty products and keeps it for a special occasion. She buys chocolate and keeps it for later. She buys a teacup and it’s too beautiful for every day use.
I was used to buying food and keeping it for later because I was afraid of not having enough. I kept a dress for a special occasion. I put away lingerie for that one special night.
What happens ? The products expire. The soaps lose their perfume. The food rots away. The chocolate turns white. The teacup gets broken by an energetic cat. The lingerie seems to have lost its allure. The dress doesn’t fit anymore.
Of course, you know where I’m going with this. Blablabla enjoy life every day blablabla every day is a special occasion blabla.
You have all heard this before and you probably received this email about a widower finding all the things his dead wife had put away for a special occasion and had never used. It’s cliché. It’s still true. That stupid chain email has stuck with me and has imprinted my brain with its message.
I bought a dress. It was black. It fitted me like a glove. It was impossibly sexy. I wore it only once and not a week-month goes by that I don’t think of the time I have wasted feeling self-conscious about my body and not wearing great clothes because of it.
I think it takes training to be able to use what you would keep for a rainy day. It takes a mental kick. It probably comes from thinking we are not worth enough to look beautiful, to smell good, to use the good china, to dress sexy, to eat fresh fruit. I don’t know. Maybe I’m overthinking it. I still think of my friend who says the object of her lust, of her pining (she does lust and pine over her stuff) is too nice, too beautiful. Why ? Why is it too nice ?
« Because I’m worth it » has become something I hold on to and I think she should think about it.
That email has stuck with me. I wouldn’t want to thank the person who sent it again and again. But I wouldn’t want to be that woman who dies with unused treasures all over the house either.
I still put soaps away. I wait for them to dry out a bit so they last longer. I take my fanciest soaps to the gym. I buy expensive strawberries because that’s what I want to eat. I lather on that wonderful shower gel because it does smell good and I feel like a princess when I use it. I wear my lingerie week nights because the fabric is soft. I haven’t bought any sexy dress since 2007 but I bought skirts and I wear them. It makes me think I should wear my jacket more often. I read the books I buy instead of keeping them for later. I use the chocolate in recipes instead of leaving it in the cupboard.
I think it’s making me enjoy life more. Pleasure, joy, well-being shouldn’t be put aside for a special occasion or a rainy day. Pleasure every day keeps the doctor away and makes us live a richer and more satisfying life. That’s what I think. I’m just saying.