Over-Gifting

Over gifting

Guilty as charged! I have done and still catch myself at times "needing" to over-gift. Like a lot of us, I did not grow up in a wealthy household, making holidays and celebrations hard. Holidays were always stressful to me, but high school year specifically because I was saving for college. I had this idea, instead of buying my brother a gift I just took him out for a drink (he was of age) In my mind at the time, it saved money and time for shopping. This became our tradition moving forward, no gifts, let us just meet up and grab a drink. Who knew years later that we appreciate this more instead of the gift shopping and buying.

I took this idea of doing something instead of buying into my other relationships. In my mind, I believe I will not remember the watch you bought me but I will remember that karaoke night we had together.

I want you to think about the reason you buy for someone. Are we doing to get something in return? Do we want them to see how much we love them? Do we want them to know that we went out of our way to get all of these gifts. Do they need to know that we did not eat just to buy them this gift?

If you feel you are over-giving I want you to ask yourself "what is the outcome I want from this gift"? Is this something you saw, and now it would make them smile? Give them that happiness in their belly? I want you to ask yourself what are some gifts that have been given to you that have truly to the core made you smile and feel good?

I know there are expensive gifts out there that could make people have this feeling. BUT if this expense is putting you out, is this gift worth it at this time? Maybe this is something you can healthy save up for down the road.

I want you to also turn this thinking around and ask yourself are you putting this same effort into these gifts as yourself? One of my favorite quotes is "You cannot pour from an empty tea pot" You can't. You cannot be there for others if you are not there for yourself. Love yourself so you can be there for others. They tell you on the plane to put your mask on first. Why, because you have to take care of yourself in order to take care of others.