…on self-indulgence…

Do you self-indulge? Do you, in other words, allow yourself what I too often hear from people drained by work, my old self included, refer to as the “me-time”?

I go on Google, type the word “indulgence” in the search box and, this time -instead of shiver before- glory in the one-word meaning looking back at me: “a luxury.”  Throughout the most recent decades of my life, I had assumed to be guilty of such preposterous behavior as permitting myself any type of luxury.  Are you now tensing up, overcome by the same sense of guilt as I have been for too many years? We are, after all, programmed to work to be able to continue to work in order to work some more, are we not? At least, some of us were and still are so. If what I am saying right now sounds familiar to you, then I can rely on your continued interest today, can I not? (Not for too long, though, no worries…)

As if in a nightmarish trance, I used to work, work, work, and then, work some more while attending as well as I was capable only to my family, friends and work-related commitments. I, myself, was not on my agenda. Ever. Not as long as I can remember. Then came a bodily reminder. An emotional one ensued.  I do self-indulge now and am proud of how I cherish my “me-time”. Especially, since my self-indulgence occurs through a simplest and littlest time-consuming “luxury”: I drink Turkish coffee I prepare daily for myself, diligently adorning the saucer of my tiny Turkish coffee cup with one square of dark chocolate (two squares, if from a miser of a box…), taking a tiny cut from it (or them) each time I sip a drop. If you look closely at the photo below, you will see the cast of my self-indulgent ritual.

[Photo credit: To self]

In Turkish – my native tongue as you know (or will find out for the first time today, if you happen to be stopping by just at the moment), there is a saying, which has gone on to songs as well as frequent citations: “Bir fincan kahvenin kırk yıl hatırı vardır.” ~ “A [demitasse] of Turkish coffee will be remembered for forty years (Coffee Drinking Habits in Turkey).”

There is a translation of the same saying I happen to like in particular: “[I]f one has been offered a demitasse of coffe[e], [s/]he is obliged for forty years to the one who offered the coffe[e] (Turkish Coffee).” My preference for this translation option is for selfish reasons: since I am offering you my own demitasse of Turkish coffee (virtual realities are all that we have these days), will you be please kindly “obliged” to be here reading my posts for forty years to come? (Only a small feat, isn’t it? More later…)

On a lighthearted note still, I now would like to invite you to the ending of my post via a video on instrumental Turkish music by Grup Gezgin with the band’s designated title signifying my focus today, “Bir fincan kahvenin kırk yıl hatırı var”:

http://www.mynet.com/video/muzik/grup-gezgin-bir-fincan-kahvenin-40-yil-hatiri-va-1484576/