Are You Saving “The Good Stuff”?

© forgiss | Istock

Where’s your “good stuff”?  Are you saving “the good stuff” for later?  Why deny yourself  “good stuff” pleasure?

Decades ago, I read a story written by a woman who wanted to encourage others to not save our “good stuff” for use only on some special occasion at a later, who-knows-when date.  But, rather, to enjoy the “good stuff” right now.  She was specifically writing about women who buy beautiful things for themselves but never allow themselves the pleasure of enjoying them.  The author’s sister always saved her “good stuff” to wear on some future special occasion.  Her sister’s beautiful, sexy bras and panties were carefully folded and placed in the back of a drawer to be admired but not worn.  A gorgeous dress that set off her sister’s best features in way that even she couldn’t believe in the mirror was carefully hung in the closet with it’s tags still attached.  She planned to wear the dress with her sexy underclothes on Someday.  When her sister died suddenly, having never worn her treasured garments, her family gave them to the funeral director to place on her body for her final presentation and burial.  It’s an obvious lesson to not save the “good stuff” for later.  That article resonated with me that day because I had loads of “good stuff”, too, that I denied myself the pleasure of enjoying, but not anymore!

These days, I wear and use it all!  My good stuff is out of the cabinets and closets.  I recall times, however, when I would buy something and save it because it was “too good” for me to wear without a special occasion.  Truth is, I was projecting onto those objects my own feelings of self-worth or lack thereof.  I wasn’t valuing myself.  I wasn’t giving myself the best I deserved, and I wasn’t willing to receive when it was gifted.  I remember receiving a beautiful, copper-colored, silk nightgown as a gift, and instead of enjoying it, I carefully folded it in tissue paper and placed it in a drawer where I occasionally touched it and smiled at it.  I was waiting for just the right occasion to wear it.  It’s amazing how someone else’s story has an immediate effect; an a-ha moment that changes one’s perspective instantly.  The same day I read the author’s story, I wore the silk dress to bed and enjoyed the feel of it against my skin.  All of the things I’d been saving or not allowing myself to enjoy came out of the closets and cabinets immediately.  I knew I turned the corner on self-worth when one of my guests at a dinner party dropped a gorgeous crystal wine glass on my stone patio by accident.  I closed my eyes and sighed “aaaaahhhhh” at the beautiful sound the crystal sang as it broke and splintered into pieces.  Some of my friends gasped in horror; and others aaaaahhh-ed with me.  I knew right then who was saving the “good stuff”!  And now, that’s how I roll.  Everything is temporary.  Ev-er-y-thing!  So, enjoy it all now; no more waiting! 

Last summer, I was window shopping in Paris and felt drawn to this lingerie display.  I thought about that article I had read so many years ago, and went inside the shop, and bought this beautiful lace lingerie set for myself.  I wore it the next day.  For me.  I wore it for me.  And then I decided to write about it to encourage you to do the same.  Gift yourself something that turns you on, light’s you up, something that makes you feel great!  Whatever it is. You deserve it! And pull the “good stuff” out of your closets and cabinets.  Today!  Let them give you joy.

© Lisa Rose Lodeski, Window shopping, Paris, 2015.

What have you been saving to use for a special occasion?  How does it feel to give yourself permission to enjoy it today?  What have you gifted yourself recently just because you love You?  I’d love to read your comments!