The holidays are here and they can bring lots of fun with family and friends, perhaps baking your favorite Christmas cookies, or decorating a beautiful tree!
At the same time, the holidays can sometimes be stressful, expensive, and leave you feeling very short on time to take care of yourself. I might have just the remedy this year. Consider the idea of giving the gift of YOU rather than a material gift. This can really be an especially nice idea when the whole family or several friends join in.
What’s the benefit of doing this? Well, there are several – you can save some money by giving someone the gift of service and your time. And you can save some time over the holiday season when your gift is “delivered” in 2018! Remember, you will have more available time after the holidays are over. Last but not least, you can give a unique gift, one that only you could ever give — YOU! Give your time to a family member or friend in a way that’s uniquely meaningful for them.
Here are a just few ideas:
- Be the gift of helpfulness to your elderly grandmother by offering to do her grocery shopping or other errands for the winter months.
- Give the gift of a sanity break to your wonderful neighbors by offering to babysit for their small children so they can go out to dinner on their own.
- Give your sweet parents a handmade gift certificate good for one home cooked meal at your home once a week for the year, so you can spend more time with them.
- Offer to clean out your sister’s closet for her, since you are good at that and she desperately wants the help!
- Offer to sit with a friend as they tackle a task they are dreading – just the company can make the task less daunting!
- Tell a neighbor that your gift to them is to shovel all of their snow during January, February, and March.
- Offer your busy brother and his wife the gift of a much-needed break by driving their kids to all of their sports practices for a month.
- Tell your good friend who just lost her job that you’ll create a fabulous new résumé with her and show her how to create a LinkedIn profile.
The key ingredient in this process is to really imagine what your gift recipient would wish for that would add more joy, relaxation, or just a great big smile on their face. Your gift will leave the recipient knowing that you really thought about them and what they truly needed in their life right now. When your gift is received, your kindness will be remembered far longer than any material gift you might have given.
There are so many fun possibilities, and none of them cost you any time or money over the holidays. You save money, take time to do something nice for others when you have more available time, and wind up feeling pretty blessed in the process!
Happy holidays everyone! Enjoy the season of giving YOU!
Today’s blog was written by WWR Partner Coach, Donna Kettell. Donna is a certified professional coach (CPC) and a master practitioner in energy leadership (ELI-MP). Her certifications were earned through The Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC), which is accredited by the International Coaching Federation (ICF).