With all thanks to my good friend Mary Sanders, who kicked this page off while I was recovering from minor brain surgery (it is my brain, after all), I’ve decided to make this page a regular feature of my site. Nothing I love more than sharing the works of others who have the ability to share a few laughs and a message of inspiration all at the same time. Please check back regularly to see who’s featured. And if you have any suggestions, don’t keep them to yourself!
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December 14, 2018 by Mary Sanders
What do you have that you’ve put aside and aren’t using because it’s “too nice to use”??? It could be anything – that awesome bottle of bourbon, that stunning outfit, your wedding china, fine jewelry, your grandma’s hand-made quilt; honestly, it could be anything that you think is really special and MUST BE SAVED for some unidentifiable special occasion at some unknown point yet very special of time in the future. I’m overusing the word “special” but you know exactly what I mean.
Why aren’t you using it? Why not enjoy it today? Right now? (OK, maybe not the bourbon during working hours, but you understand the intent of the statement.)
Are you afraid of breaking it? If you break it, it’s gone and you can’t use it. Or maybe you are afraid of not having it for that indefinable special occasion. Maybe you think you aren’t deserving of it – you aren’t special enough. Or you are saving it as a reward for that ultimately unattainable goal that is so outlandish that you won’t even speak it out loud. Sort of like those statements of “I’ll be happy when…” So you put it in storage and don’t use it. You are effectively achieving the same outcome – you aren’t using it. It’s worthless to you. Eventually (if it doesn’t get broken in storage) someone else will own it, enjoy it, and ultimately, will break it. It might as well be you. It should be you.
Is it special? Extraordinary? Unique? Well, aren’t YOU all of those things too?
Seriously – eventually everything you have saved or preserved will be used by others, or will eventually be lost or stolen, damaged, destroyed, or go bad. If you deprive yourself of the happiness of the use of something you own, you are essentially negating any enjoyment it could have afforded you from the start.
Break out that china and use it on the daily, and have some champagne with dinner. And while you are at it – wear that outfit that makes you feel like a million bucks. Open the bourbon, wear the jewelry, cuddle under the quilt.
You ARE special and you DO deserve to enjoy the things you have, things that make you feel happy or that remind you of something or someone. Life is so short. It’s too short to be anything but happy. Each and every day is a gift to be lived to the fullest extent possible.
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