On Using Up the Good Things in Your Stash
"One of the few things I know . . . is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time . . . The impulse to save something good for a better place later is the signal to spend it now."
--Annie Dillard, The Writing Life
9 comments:
My favorite writer, and a wonderful quote, and certainly applicable to more than writing--you are right! She once wrote me a postcard after I sent her a letter and noted that she felt The Writing Life was too didactic, but I have always found it wonderfully instructive and inspiring.
She is right. Too often people die and the better time or place never came. That's why I don't cry too much when things get used up. Better that than spend their lives hidden in a cupboard.
I have great difficulty using up the good things in my stash, but this is good advice!
I also agree with this.
Lisateresa
I just finished this book! I stopped and pondered this as I read, so it was fun to see it quoted on one of my favorite blogs :).
Such a useful reminder. I am prone to keeping things for later or best.
My sister and I often go to auctions, and it always makes me sad when I see all the good stuff that was never used. So what if it gets broken, stained, used up...at least it got loved!
Too true! After my grandmother died one of the saddest things was the amount of brand new things (linens, handkerchiefs, glassware) that my father & his siblings found she had put away & saved "for good". Well, in her life "good" just never came... there was much disappointment for her instead, & I guess she never saw the purpose of using prettier things.
How shortsighted! I hold the opposite view, getting out nicer things on a very regular basis, to the delight of my family. It's good for them to know that I value their presence as much as when company comes over, & that a nicely-set table doesn't depend on being wealthy. It certainly smoothes the path of life as well, to bring a little beauty to the everyday.
Brenda
Love this quote---I've adopted this philosophy as well. Life's just too short!
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