If I had an item for every time a client professed their adoration for a belonging they never use because they’re “saving it,” or “too scared about damaging it to actually use it,” I could stock a whole store. Its shelves would be filled with the nicest versions of every sort of thing: bougie skincare, covetable fragrances, blouses and dresses (white), designer handbags, linens from the South of France, antique coup glasses from grandparents, and on and on.

The list of things people simultaneously own and withhold from themselves is long and varied, but the common mindset is clear: “Save the good stuff for later.”

Save it for what? For whom? Or for when, exactly?

What is the point of having treasured items if we are not to enjoy them?

The notion that you should save the good stuff becomes silly when you consider that its intent is to protect you from being without in the future…by going without in the present.

Even sillier is the belief that you, in your apparently banal everyday life, are unworthy of the most excellent treatment you’re able to procure.

There is no coming Golden Day. There will be no point at which a sign appears announcing
“Today is the day you’re worthy of the best, so wear the special shirt and shoes you’ve been saving!”

The time to enjoy your life is now. These, everyday, real-life days are the most glorious ones you’ll get.

I’m not recommending you serve your toddler her yogurt on your prized fine china, or wear your handstitched, white silk blouse to go paint ceramics. Common sense reigns. But deferring to the fear of damaging your belongings by way of general use reaches a point when it isn’t prudent, but self-denial.

Precious as they may be, things are just things. Their purpose is to be used as tools for your ease and delight. Your job is not to do everything within your power to preserve them, but to be present to the grandeur and luxury of your getting to be alive, delighting in the beauty around you.

We are the only ones we need to do our very best to care for as if we were meant to last for eternity.