Treating Ourselves

Today's random thought is about treating ourselves. It is such a wonderful thing. Such a necessary part of my life. I think back to some article I read about people who were challenged to go one entire year without buying anything new. I believe food was not included in that. Anyway, at first I thought, hmm, one year, I could PROBABLY do it. But really, I don't think that I could.

I have always gotten enjoyment out of the little things. As a young teenager, when many of my friends were "out" on a Friday night (their parents thought with a group of friends at a movie, but it would be at a party or out with an older boy their parents didn't approve of or know about), I found peace with a trip to the store with my mother. I would get a new nail polish, or a magazine, or that LUXURY SHAMPOO (refer back 5 blogs). At 14 or 15, this was all I needed to make me happy. That and a telephone hooked to my head. I had a friend who actually teased me about my lack of a social life at that age. The biggest excitement of Susan's Friday night is going to Fay's with her mother! Oh yes, it was the big laugh. Several years later, when this same friend came home pregnant at age 15, she admitted how jealous she was. Had she only gone to Fay's with her mother on Friday nights, she might not have been a Mom when I was going to the Prom and beginning my own social life. Even more years later, when her own daughter was 14, she told me that she wanted the biggest excitment in her daughter's life to be going to WalMart (Fay's had long since closed) with her.

I often think of the trouble I have kept myself out of by treating myself to the little things. Instead of turning to heavy drugs or alcohol in times of sadness, I would take a bubble bath, or get a new haircut. Instead of doing something I might later regret, I buy a new skirt. Of course this can also be seen as a problem. And sometimes I have my issues. But in the end I think I am still further ahead.

Something else that is interesting to ponder, is that I am not into the big things. Like, I do not have fancy new cars every other year, nor do I have a snowmobile for the winter months. I do not own a boat or a summer getaway cottage. All these things would certainly be attainable if I did not splurge on the little things. If I was a saver. I wonder how my life would be if I didn't spend money on the little things, but instead saved it. But I don't wonder for long, before whipping a bouquet of roses into my cart at the Chopper. They will make me happy all week.

So back to the people challenged to not buy anything for a year. This could possibly work for me if I was only allowed to shop at a grocery store. I could possibly get by without any new clothes (although I did see the Chopper carrying jeans last week!) or shoes for a year. But I could survive with an occasional new makeup or magazine from the Chopper, or perhaps a new basket or set of spa towels. They sell books, too!

As I head back to the working world tomorrow, after 12 days off, I will think of my roses, at home waiting for my return. My children each picked out a plant for their rooms today, too. I am teaching them the way!