My deodorant hit the “it’ll run out soon” level. Every day since the fluid first seemed to stand low in the bottle, I’ve been thinking: “I need to replace this soon.” That was more than a month ago.
I don’t know if it’s because I keep the deodorant upside down and that makes it hard to accurately assess how full it is, or because I simply use so little each morning that it barely goes down, but whatever the cause, that’s a lot of fretting about deodorant—fretting which is entirely pointless.
The other day, after worrying for the umpteenth time, I realized: “You know what? Screw it. Just let the damn deodorant run out. Once it’s empty, you’ll replace it. It takes 30 seconds to grab a new one from the stock. Don’t think about it now because you’ll hardly think about it when it happens.” That was solid advice to myself. I wish I had taken it.
Instead, the scene repeated as usual the next morning. Yet again, I learned a new lesson: “Actually, I can also replace it right now. I can grab the new one and put it next to my current bottle. Chances are, that’d have the same effect.” Naturally, I didn’t do that either.
But I did get a third takeaway: You can be someone who lets hygiene products run out, or you can be someone who has replacements on hand. It doesn’t matter who you choose to be, and you can, in theory, change your mind each time. But making the choice and living with it, that is what counts—and that’s the part that makes your worries evaporate like deodorant on skin.
Take comfort in who you are, and you’ll keep your peace of mind.
