Thirty Cent Sanity

I’ve considered canceling my subscription to vocal media…not because I hate it…just to save a LITTLE cash.

Some months when I don’t get to write because my life is super busy teaching, tutoring, and taking my own five children to their extracurriculars, I think…”You’re wasting money you could be using.”

Other months, I do get to write—of course it’s after teaching, tutoring, and taking kids to soccer, basketball, track meets, church etc… It’s after homework, and dinner, and baths. Then I think… “Why are you up at 1:00 am doing this…you’re wasting money and wasting sleep.”

And still some other months, after all the must-dos, I climb into a hot bath to write at 1:00am just to enter a vocal challenge. After filling the tub up twice, to keep the water hot, I emerge as a wrinkled prune with something I think is worthy of a win. However, later to discover it wasn’t good enough. Then I think… “This isn’t worth your time…you’re wasting money, you’re wasting sleep and water.”

And I have yet to cancel it!

Why?

Well because it’s my cheapest form of self-care.Just $120.00…for 365.25 days of self-care. Self-care I don’t have to make an appointment for. That I don’t have to wait for an availability for…and it’s open 24/7. I can’t get that anywhere else. I pay $120 for a massage that lasts 1 hour… that I had to wait weeks for a time to open up that would meet my schedule and theirs. I pay $120.00 to get my hair colored so I can feel good… and it’s one time, fades in 6-8 weeks and I had to wait to get in. I pay $120 to get a couple of mani/pedis and then in just a few weeks the paint is chipping and it’s time to drop more money to feel good.

But with vocal media—if I want to relax, take a mental break, get something off my chest etc… I just open the app—right then and right there. My mind drifts to another place as I read about a mother who is being interrogated along with the other members of her family because of an item mysteriously moving. I laugh as we discover it was just a brother’s prank gone wrong in a good way. New passion emerges as I open the app and read through the current vocal challenges. I get excited and believe in myself again and maybe in a whole new way. As I write, feelings of stress travel from my body and out through my pen; leaving themselves trapped on pages. Ok—maybe they travel from my body and out through my text typing thumbs leaving themselves trapped in digital notes. Whichever the case may be, I’m left…less tense, less troubled and more full. Self-care wins again, and I only paid around .30 cents for it today. Not to mention, sometimes it pays me. I open the app and see I received a bonus for a top-story, a tip from a fellow vocal creator, a few cents from reads or a compliment from a reader. Whether it’s money or uplifting words, it’s not just destressing it’s giving back. It’s invigorating. It’s fortifying, and there is nothing cheaper that recharges me; improving my health more. And although I love a hot bath…I’m pretty sure soaking in a hot bath costs me more.

Now you can see why I haven’t canceled it yet, and might not ever. When you break it down like that it’s kind of a no brainer— I call it my thirty cent sanity. It keeps me sane. It gives me something to look forward to; a sound mental health. So here’s to cheap, quality self-care! Keep on vocalizing!