For That Special Occasion.

The last Saturday of February is open that bottle day.

This was created in 2000 by Dorothy.J.Gaiter and John Brecher the idea was to motivate people to reconnect, create a memory with special bottle opened essentially need to celebrate for no occasion.

Its not just the wine bottle that is saved for a special occasion but we tend to hold on things, I have a books that I have ‘saved’ to read so that I can savour the book. There are clothes that await a special for the special occasion to be worn. There favourite desserts saved for a special day these desserts have now become source of penicillin.

The question of why do we put off good things? Popped up quite often.  The probable reasons seem

1. It could be a reluctance to change a routine. We are near perfect in the familiar space, changing would alter the sense of perfection.
2. There is a huge sense of “I don’t deserve” and guilt for taking care of ourselves, and doing something pleasure somehow feels that we are doing that we ought not to be doing.
3. There are people who need to feel that they have to accomplish something before you get pampered. This is particularly seen where accomplishments have been acknowledged with gifts. Or the concept of delayed gratification.
4. Classifying things as good and bad like being on a strict diet through the week and allowing yourself a day of binging.

Have you ever noticed the kind of things we save?

• Movies… there are movies that I have on my playlist because I want to watch it from the start right up to the finish without having to pause.
• Books to read leisurely.
• Crockery saved for special guests and when they do turn up the crockery has to be sterilized before use.
• That favourite dessert saved has been around for 6months and is now the perfect media to grow bacteria.
• The fancy shoes bought for occasions; well, they are used so occasionally that one develops a shoe bite using it.
• The new restaurant that popped up, again we wait for the occasion only to realize that the restaurant has shut down.
• The scented candles that are only decors because we are saving lighting it for a special occasion.
• Perfume bottles and body lotions all drying up because we are waiting for that wonderful perfect occasion to use it.

Quite often all that need for perfection creates anxiety and also heightens expectations.  And things can be disappointing. Putting things off or saving things puts us into a cycle of holding on, procrastination, indecision and even negativity. Time runs and we are left with regrets. Regretting things not done, is quite painful it accumulates as bitterness.

After all this soul searching, I came with a list I call my annoyance list. That doing these things would make happy but I’m saving it for that perfect moment. Spend just 15mnts clearing this annoyance list.