The Water in the Bottle

A person is lost in the desert but they are lucky and they have a full bottle of water with them. Unfortunately they die and their body is found with their hand still gripping the bottle.Often the bottle is half full. You would think they would drink all the water in the bottle but many people try and save it and die of thirst. You see they think that by conserving the water in the bottle they will survive. Unfortunately this is a bad thing.If we are in the desert we can't waste our water. We are not going to shower with it or have a water fight. However if we leave it in the bottle it is not doing us any good, we must put it into our belly.The lesson for our lives is about how we spend our money and time. I was working with someone in another country. She was very unhappy for a range of reasons. She refused to spend any money on things that could have kept her entertained or made her happy. Instead she just become more and more depressed through having nothing to do.I also sometimes go hiking with a person who is trying to set up a business. She works on it seven days a week and every time she came hiking with us she felt guilty. But spending that time on being social, getting exercise and enjoying nature is not wasted, it is like the water in your belly.Sometimes we can be so careful with our money and time that we are metaphorically dying of thirst, and we need to have that vacation, buy that beautiful dress or spend a weekend simply enjoying ourselves.