When The Oprah Winfrey Show was on the air in syndication (RIP 4pm Oprah show!), I watched with rapt attention. Even though her some of her cockamamie ideas (piercing your ears in front of millions?) rubbed me the wrong way, I remained loyal and true blue to Ms. Winfrey. Her many, many pieces of advice have stuck with me and I’ll discuss one of my favorites here today. Pull up a chair. No, not that one, the other one.
Oprah has said on more than one occasion to “use the good bath stuff”. She means this both literally and figuratively. On the literal end, she means that the delicious-smelling and invigorating Origins ginger scrub that my friend Ina gave me should be enjoyed in the shower like, TODAY. It’s a yummy product and I work hard all week long so g-damn it, I deserve a little boost in the morning. Same goes with that lavender oil I’ve been shoving to the back of my shower caddy, waiting for an appropriate time to enjoy it. Opes is saying that today is the day! You deserve it today! Use it PRONTO! OK, Oprah, stop yelling, jeez. Have a cookie.
Figuratively speaking, Oprah was onto something bigger. This idea that we hold onto the Good Stuff for guests, for the day when we get a promotion, for our birthday, for an anniversary, for Bastille Day, it’s hogwash (shower pun intended)! We stockpile fancy items and tuck them in our closets, hide them in the back of our drawers, cloister them away so we aren’t tempted to use them because who are we to enjoy something so lavish on any ordinary day? The side effect of this thinking is damaging in two ways.
- Today is not ordinary. Today is just as important as the day you graduated from cooking school or the day you escaped from Juvee. Today is important because you’re living it to its fullest and you’re making a difference in someone’s life. When you treat each day with value, you push yourself past your fears and start to “live big”, as my friend Simone recently declared.
- When you cram all your lovely bath products, your fancy dark chocolate and your plush towels out of your line of vision, you forget they even exist. It’s like “look but don’t touch” for adults. I can’t tell you how many clients I’ve helped who reached into a rarely-used drawer and pulled out a dusty, once-sexy smelling candle or a dented box filled with stale Godivas. If you wait to use the items you love, the items you love might crumple up and die. The client holds the item, inspects it and finally says, “I was saving this, I wondered where it went!” Exactly.
What are you waiting for? Tell me about one fantastic item at home that you’ll use this week as a treat to yourself just for being you!
With love, light and less clutter,
Jeni