Every time check is a reminder.. this is mine. What is yours?
Ok, this is going to sound a little shallow, but hear me out. Today I spent time in an expensive hotel. I was taking my daughter to an interview for a famous school in Chelsea, London. I've spent time in many hotels (some expensive, others less so), but I always felt somewhat incongruous and a bit of an imposter. But for today, for the first time, I felt comfortable and not self-conscious at all.
I had a good think about this, and I realised that until recently, I have spent very little on myself. My family and friends have always come first, and I felt guilty for anything that was remotely indulgent or frivolous. Somehow, I did not feel I deserved anything good. But getting involved in the hobby of watch collecting has given me the confidence to invest in my own happiness, and today I realised that to be happy, you must feel that you deserve to be happy.
So to me, every time I check the time is a little reminder that I deserve good things, because sometimes I forget. And without these little reminders, it's hard to enjoy or even notice the good things when they do happen.
I got my first mechanical watch in 1976 as a boy. I broke it within a year (over wound it). Then after many Casio years, I rediscovered mechanical watches. Still have a couple of quartz watches, thoug...
I believe it's important to invest in yourself. You have to take care of yourself to be able to take care of others.
I have that same watch, and wearing it reminds me of how fortunate I am to have some level of financial security. I'm well aware of what it's like to struggle financially, and a nice watch is a constant reminder to me to be generous, give back to my community, and appreciate what I have. For a long time, I had to scrape money together each month just to pay rent, buy gas, food, etc. I had nothing left to give anyone else. A watch like this is a reminder that there's enough now to share with others. Leave a bigger tip, make a donation, support the arts, etc.