In my bathroom there is a small little shelf that can really only be seen from one angle where I store a couple spare rolls of toilet paper. (I promise this post isn’t about the bathroom or toilet.) I remember when I was out of college and in my first apartment and always stocked up on toilet paper and how adult that felt– to never run out of essentials. Planning ahead is so… mature?
Since that time, I have just become one of those people who keeps things stocked. I don’t want to wrestle the tube of toothpaste pretending it isn’t all gone because I did not buy any at the store. I want to use all the toothpaste completely (see also: my Depression Era way of using/eating/drinking everything until it’s totally gone) and then go to the closet for another tube. It is incredible the stress you can eliminate from your life by thinking ahead a step or two, right?
While I still appreciate that I have spares of all the things I need within reach, lately I look at that little shelf by the toilet with those spare rolls of toilet paper and it says abundance to me. It shouts ABUNDANCE. I am a bit of a worrier, this I think we know, so when I look at those spare rolls and know I do not have to worry about running out at this time, a calm feeling of abundance washes over me. I am reassured with how lucky I am, how special it really is to have a basic need accounted for, when even most of the world wouldn’t even consider it a basic need.
I am so blessed.
And it reminds me to look and be grateful for abundance in other places in my life. I get so overcome sometimes with how different my life looks today than anything I would’ve imagined that I don’t see that more often than not, that is a good thing. While the things I choose to keep in the forefront of my mind aren’t what I thought, there is a much harsher reality out there that I don’t live, either. I am in a good place. I am surrounded by abundance. My hygienic needs are well provided for.
Amen.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Nicely written post, Lesley. I think it’s a good reminder for all of us that our outlooks on our lives can be dramatically changed if we each tweak our perspective just a bit. This post is a good reminder of that.
Girl, I want to bottle your attitude and sell it to people. Especially contestants on The Bachelor… Anyway…
It really is life-changing when you can stop yourself and identify the abundance in your life. I’ll remind myself of this next time I get mad at Mr. W for taking my spare roll of TP out of my bathroom.
There really is something satisfying in using up the very last bit of something because it’s the proper thing to do, not because there is not another waiting in the cupboard. Just as long as we don’t become those crazy extreme coupon people.
Thanks for the reminder of how privileged we really are.
I also have that Depression Era ways about me, squeezing the last little bit out of everything before I recycle the container away. I like how you reframed the being over stocked and overly prepared as abundance… I’ll think about that next time I can’t fit all the toilet paper into the cabinet where I store