Lessons from Somewhere: January 2017

When I was in Florida for the holidays, my mom was unloading the dishwasher (truthfully, I was being unhelpful and sitting on the couch). She was shuffling around the kitchen, opening drawers and shutting them. I wasn’t paying much attention until she started talking about her love for a new mug she’d bought recently. My mom has unintentionally become a collector of coffee mugs. Her collection is larger than average. She has all kinds, small ones with cute phrases on them, ones that travel well and others that look handmade.

She called out from the kitchen, “I have a lot of mugs! But this one I just bought is so good. I enjoy it so much,” there was a short pause. “You know, all it takes is one good mug.”

My mom’s phrase has stuck with me. I was putting my own dishes away in my New York apartment when I looked into my kitchen cabinets and realized that I had also unknowingly started a mug collection. As I studied the shelf, I realized that my mom is right. There is one mug that I will always use over all the other mugs on the shelf. It does only take one good mug, so why did I have so many?

We are taught from a young age to want more, to not settle for less than best. Especially now a days. the internet does the research for us. There are “best of” lists for everything and reviews on every product. I won’t buy anything without reading several articles first because I want to buy the best.

When I looked in the cabinet at all the mugs I have, I realized how I’m trained to look for the next best thing because what I have is not good enough.

This isn’t limited to mugs, mind you. I made a quick list in my head:

• I order in or go out to eat because the food is supposed to taste better than cooking at home.
• I go to the gym because doing cardio videos from home don’t make me seem as serious about fitness.
• I usually want to buy new clothes when I have a perfectly fine wardrobe at home.

I want to reprogram my brain to be satisfied with what I have and stop longing for what I don’t truly need. It sounds more balanced this way, and perhaps a little simpler.

 

 

 

 

 

 

---