Be Conscientious this Season
So how are you doing on your commitment to prioritize and be conscientious during the holiday season? We are entering the big month of December with an extra week under our belts from our early Thanksgiving. Consider making your list and checking it twice. Start with how to be good stewards of your money. Really decide how much you want to spend during the ‘season’ and how you will feel come January 1stwhen charge card bills come due and over-consumerism can be seen with the garbage containers full of empty packaging and wrapping and the new items sitting about yet to find a place to be stored. Spend time considering whether buying something will bring buyer’s remorse a few days or weeks down the road. Make your list. Consider what is reasonable and doable in your budget. Say “no” to thinking you have to have gifts for everyone. Gifts are nice, but they really don’t touch the depth of relationships.
You are the gift in a relationship. And that should be able to stand on its own. If gifts are needed, then perhaps the friendship really isn’t there. If you don’t have the money for those extra gifts, give the gift of expression of your love – write a letter from your heart giving appreciation for the person and his/her essence that blesses you. Dare to be bold this year. Set boundaries on your spending. Make the season about true connections through emotional connecting. Don’t equate the amount spent on the gift to the importance of the relationship. No matter how much is spent on a gift, it will never touch the depth of fulfillment one finds in a relationship. Trying to buy a gift to symbolize this will only minimize what you have in the relationship. So be true to yourself this year. You know what is right for your spending. Listen to yourself and do only what is right for you. This sets up a win-win for all as you are only doing what you can and should do, and your peace of mind at the end of the year will grace all those around you.
Tags: set holiday spending boundaries, you are the gifr this seasonABOUT THE AUTHOR
Janie Pfeifer Watson
Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker
Licensed Independent Mental Health Practitioner- Janie Pfeifer Watson, LICSW, is the founder and director of Wholeness Healing Center, a mental health practice in Grand Island, Nebraska with remote sites in Broken Bow and Kearney. Her expertise encompasses a broad range of areas, including depression, anxiety, attachment and bonding, coaching, couples work, mindfulness, trauma, and grief. She views therapy as an opportunity to learn more about yourself as you step more into being your authentic self. From her perspective this is part of the spiritual journey; on this journey, she serves as a mirror for her clients as they get to know themselves—and, ultimately, to love themselves.
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