What have you been reupholstering?

re-up-hol-ster:  a verb meaning to cover with new materials

I was reconciling my checkbook the other day and realized how much money I had spent this past month in giving myself a bit of a "reupholstering" - I bought a new pair of navy shoes because the 3 pairs I already had weren't doing the trick.  But I wasn't done there. I also bought a new dress, a new pink lipstick to add to the 20 shades I already had, enjoyed a facial, upgraded my gym membership and decided to (try) and give up sugar!    All for the sake of wanting to create a whole new look for myself. In my head, my thoughts were telling me:

• If I bought that new dress "he" would notice me;
• It's because I didn't have those navy shoes that I didn't think of myself confident walking into the presentation.
• And the attempt to give up dairy?  Well perhaps in giving that up, my waist would go down.
• I will feel better and look better!

Or so I thought. My thought process was similar to when I chose to reupholster my living room chair. It looked tired and run down and needed a bit of oomph. And like my shopping spree outlined above, it was an equally costly endeavor. I must admit, when I wore for the first time my new pair of navy shoes and saw my new upholstered chair, I thought, it and I looked darn good! For a day. And like my shopping spree, the high of having a new "look" lasted for a nanosecond because before I could even make my first credit card payment toward those purchases, I didn't feel any different or better. I still looked like ME. And, I didn't feel any oomph. With the task of reconciling my checkbook and thinking about where I spent some of my money and the "why" behind it, the process brought me back to the need to reconcile my thoughts about me. It is easy to forget that how I felt was because of how I chose to think.  Nothing had to change for me to feel different, to feel better about myself. I get to feel the way I want to feel all the time, no matter what's going on. It is not dependent on a new pair of navy shoes, a different shade of pink lipstick or moving my gym membership from basic to premium-level status. And just like the credit card commercial touts, choosing better thoughts about myself that lead to better feelings about me that result in more productive outcomes is priceless! My living room chair, on the other hand, that needs some new upholstery!         Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash