Cutting Board Offers an Unexpected Lesson on Appreciating Our Beautiful Things

Photo Credit: Hermien Elago via Facebook

Isn’t it funny how little things can sometimes give us the biggest lessons? A woman opened up about how finally using her special Himalayan sea salt cutting board became a lesson to allow ourselves to enjoy and fully experience the things we’ve chosen, worked for, and brought into our lives instead of “saving them for later”.

South Africa (31 October 2025) – Our brains have been trained to save our new, best or most prized things for very special or specific occasions. It may be a beautiful dress, a fancy pair of shoes or expensive crockery that only comes out when you have guests.

For Hermien Elago, that “thing” was a pretty Himalayan sea salt cutting board she’d bought a while ago.

“It infuses salt directly into your veggies, meat, or whatever food source you’re cutting,” Hermien shares in a Facebook post.

“But I haven’t been using it… because it’s so pretty! With each use, you rinse it clean, but that also means it becomes smaller until it dissolves completely with time.”

But her post wasn’t exactly about the cutting board, but more about how so many of us don’t use the things we hold dear out of fear of wasting, damaging or using them too much.

“Oh, fellas, how we deny ourselves the joy of using what we love, of fully experiencing the things we’ve chosen, worked for, and brought into our lives.”

“The cutting board reminded me that beauty is meant to be lived through. It’s meant to be worn down by laughter by ordinary moments that become special simply because we were present enough to enjoy them.”

Hermien’s epiphany is something so many of us can resonate with, because we’re strangely wired to ‘save something special for that one special moment’. But have you ever wondered what it would mean if that moment never came? Would you have never used the thing you cherished most?

Hermien offers a simple way to avoid this, and quite frankly, I am keen to take a note out of her book.

“Maybe joy lies in us allowing things, no matter how pretty they are, to be used fully, to serve their purpose, to dissolve slowly in the process of being truly lived. Anyway, I used the cutting board today.”

Spray the luxe perfume, wear that blouse to the grocery store and take those shoes out of the box! Go on and enjoy your beautiful things and create “the special moment” today… It’s yours after all, and beauty is meant to be lived through!