ONLY WAY TO BATHE/LIVE

Yesterday, I woke up. Very surprising. The problem was: I was terribly cold and desperately needed a shower. See, I was at a point of no turning back, and that was it.

I had reached “supreme sink.” People were afraid of my very existence, and no mortal should possess such a power; I hadn’t showered in at least two weeks. (Not since I kidnapped my pet squirrel by fighting off an undercover, secret-agent, grey cat that frequently visits me by going through my garbage bins.)

So, what did I do? I jumped under the water, clothes and all.

You may be skeptical and ask yourself: why make this decision?

Well, why not?

Why deprive yourself of this, of the pleasure of being warm, of being comforted, when there is no need for pain, or freezing, or needless suffering, lost by time in our existences? Self-love is a choice, and everyday we have to make it. Our society is shaped around the idea that choosing yourself is bad, and as young children this is implemented over and over again in our lives to affect the choices we make.

Maybe you’ll still disagree with me, and I won’t blame you; our society isn’t set up to like different ideas. We can’t promote ourselves without acting pompous. We can’t support cutting off negative people who only hurt us. We can’t stand in our neighbor’s lawns completely naked and painted pink and scream about how they deserve to be loved.

What a tragedy.

Nonetheless, we can be different. We have a choice, and now is our time to choose.

These past weeks under the siege of corona and the demoralization into isolation have been strange and exacting, and we all have to ask ourselves, what will we do when we finally get out of our cold, stinky beds and decide we need a shower?

Personally, I will never feel more relieved than jumping in the shower warm because I chose not to be cold anymore, because I chose to shower with my clothes on. That was me. I made a decision, and I didn’t care what society would think, because I decided I was more important.

Don’t give into society. Don’t be futile. Don’t demean yourself of something because you don’t believe you deserve it. Now is the time to believe in yourself. Now is the time to say goodbye to the ideals of society. Now is the time to choose self-love, to choose to say goodbye to negativity and suffering, to choose warmth and comfort, to choose to bathe with clothes on.

It is so easy to give into negativity or be a bystander to it, but we can’t belittle ourselves to that level and we shouldn’t have to.

You might ask me again: why make this decision? Why try to be warm in a place where you know you’ll most likely end up cold either way?

Well, why not?

Why live our lives cold when we know there’s a chance we don’t have to? Everyday, we are given the choice to either give into negative standards or choose to redefine ourselves and be the warmest version of who we are, despite the frigid nakedness of society.

No matter how hard it is, in today’s world, we can make a choice and we have to. We have to choose kindness. We have to choose warmth. We have to choose self-love.

The truth is: we aren’t vainglorious. We are whatever we choose to be, and we deserve every good thing that comes our way and every chance to choose and promote ourselves. However you live, it is at your own will, not at cold society’s, not at negative people’s, not at mine.

So, whatever you choose to believe about bathing with clothes on and fighting off garbage-eating, secret-agent cats, please, please, please, always choose yourself.