Is it REALLY better to give than receive?
Have you ever heard of the “Toddler’s Creed”? It goes something like this: If I saw it, it’s mine. If I like it, it’s mine. If I played with it, it’s mine (no time restraints on this one. Hours, days, weeks: all mine). If it looks like mine, it’s mine… well, you get the picture. We once had a play date with a very sweet mom and a typical toddler boy. Sharing is so hard! He didn’t want to share his toy, and his mom very sweetly said, “Robby, you know you’ll feel better if you share your toy.” I saw the look on Robby’s face: he thought his mother was delusional. He knew deep down, it was way better to keep that toy all to himself. And in a way, he was right: it does feel better to keep things for ourselves in the short-term, but hopefully, at some point in your life, you learn to love others and experience the joy of giving.
This year, I gave all my clients Christmas gifts. My favorite part was hand-delivering most of them. The gifts were varied: some got gift cards, some personalized ornaments, and others received houseplants or poinsettias—but each one was selected with that person or family in mind. I was planning to wear a Santa hat when I did my deliveries, but my son wore his Santa hat to school and loaned “mine” to a neighbor. Not to be dissuaded, I ordered myself a unique Santa hat, while supporting a small business. Isn’t Etsy amazing? I ordered one that is gray instead of the traditional red velvet. Although it didn’t arrive in time for delivering my client’s gifts, it did arrive in time to drop of plates of cookies to my neighbors—and now I’m set for gift deliveries next year :).
There is something sweet in giving and not receiving a gift in return. This year, I gave my clients gifts—not because they were expecting it—but because I’d already received. They’d given me their business, their trust, and the shared experience of creating amazing images together. I wanted them to know how special they are! And seeing them one more time before 2023 rolls in made me think: “It really is better to give than receive.”