Stop Saving. Enjoy.
Sometimes the cost of saving means missing the moment entirely.
That pretty stationery tablet was meant to be used. So were the gift packets of tea, the decorative candle, the holiday towels wrapped in a bow, and the lemon herb bath fizzes.
How many pretty things sit unused like the wedding china that rests undisturbed in the hutch? Saving them for a special occasion.
Somewhere along the way, I have decided to delay delight, telling myself that now is not quite right. Perhaps it’s because I don’t want to disturb the delightfully packaged things. But I think there’s more to it.
I once left a whole bath set in its plastic packaging, nestled in the shredded wood excelsior with tissue-wrapped soaps and loofah sponge, until nothing could be seen through the thick dust over the cellophane. But even that didn’t lead me to open the packaging and use the products, which were now fading and taking on that weird smell of rancid soap because of being in the humid bathroom for months on the back of the toilet. Because that’s where we put pretty things we want to save, right?
I raised boys. And I can assure you, that is NOT the place to keep your saving-for-later precious soaps and special towels.
Sometimes, if we’re honest, the thing we’re really saving isn’t the object at all. It’s that we’re saving the having of it. It’s a mindset thing.
Pretty things often feel finite. Once the candle is burned or the page is written on, it’s gone. Saving becomes a way to hold on to the feeling of possibility rather than risk its disappearance. The irony is that unused beauty disappears anyway.
Waiting doesn’t improve the quality.
We aren’t talking about fine wine here. The pages of fancy notebooks yellow. The tea grows stale. The candle and bath fizzes lose their scent and potency.
Every day is an opportunity to enjoy and appreciate something. We aren’t getting any younger. And there’s always more stationery to be found. More chocolate to eat and more gifts to appreciate. Today’s existence is a gift.
It turns out, I don’t need a special occasion. I need to stop postponing the one I’m already in.
What a great reminder! We used to feel sad that my grandmother tucked away pretty nightgown sets in her "if I go to the hospital" drawer, knowing she'd only ever been in the hospital once in her adult life, and those days required a hospital gown, not a lingerie set! Same with her good china. One thing I'm learning to embrace from my younger friends is their desire for experience more than acquiring things. Enjoying the nice stuff now is part of that experience. When I did your Bible study, "Refreshed," I decided to take out this lovely upscale face cream someone had given me and use it daily during the study. It lasted exactly the length of the study and was such a beautiful way to slow down and cherish refreshing of body, soul, and spirit.
Brilliantcapture of how scarcity mindset sneaks into the mundane stuff. That bit about saving the having of something rather than the thing itself is so true, like we're hoarding the potential rather than living it. I used to keep a nice journal untouched for months because nothing felt "important enough" for those pages. Turns out ordinary moments documented poorly beat perfect blank pages every time.