Find Your Marble Penguin

Yup, you read that right. Marble. Penguin.

Let me explain.

Recently I bought a marble penguin from one of my favorite home stores. I hemmed and hawed over whether or not to buy it because it literally serves no purpose other than to look good. But I kept coming back to this marble penguin thinking to myself “I really want you, marble penguin, but I just can’t seem to justify spending money on you.” I had every reason not to buy this figurine.

But I thought about it for weeks. Something about that penguin was calling to me!

So I finally I caved. I bought the penguin and found the perfect spot for it in my dining area.

Over the next few weeks I realized how much joy this penguin gave me every single time I looked at it, and I realized how much energy I spent staving off that joy just to make “the practical choice.”

It’s typical though, right? All our lives we’ve been taught to measure our desires against our priorities to such an extreme that we hardly ever prioritize ourselves. We have been so ingrained to not indulge that we sometimes actively deprive ourselves of joy - and that can take so much more energy than just giving ourselves a little something.

I’ll pause for a moment to acknowledge the role of moderation here, because I’m not saying that we should give in to every desire that comes our way - there’s plenty of evidence out there showing the benefits of honoring our long term goals over short term gain, and I’m not advocating anything to the contrary. It’s not sustainable to say yes to everything that we want.

But I am advocating that we stop suppressing our desires at every turn or at critical junctures like so many of us do. The benefits of putting ourselves first on occasion far outweigh the damage that can be caused by denying ourselves on a regular basis; it promotes self respect, a recognition that you’re worthy of having your desires met just as much as everyone else in your life; it can be restorative in times of overwhelm; it can be a powerful motivator to live more; and it generates gratitude.

In short, indulging yourself can be an act of nurturing when it’s done out of a place of measured and thoughtful self care.

My marble penguin is not just a marble penguin anymore - it’s a source of joy and pride, gratitude and self respect. It’s my reminder that I gave myself a gift.

If you’ve already found your version of a marble penguin, then celebrate your ability to give to yourself. 

But if you haven’t yet, I encourage you to let yourself indulge your desire when you do - it can have more returns than you may yet realize, and sets yourself up to enrich experiences in other areas of your life.

xoxo

Brianna