The Theory
Sometimes the story behind the gift is as meaningful as the gift itself. Great gift stories are born of those fated finds that are too perfect to pass up. As any bargain shopper who frequents the racks of TJ Maxx or Marshalls will tell you, when you find it, buy it. There is no guarantee that you’ll ever see it again. I call this the Find It-Buy It Principle.
If you’ve ever tried to find the perfect dress for an event, you know that the more desperate you are, the less likely you are to find the dress. This is the Universe shop blocking you. When you find the dress in May but you don’t need it until October, buy it. Don’t think. Don’t hesitate. Buy it.
I think the same principle should apply to gifts. We’ve all been that person standing in a big box store staring a 12-foot wall of stuff trying to find a gift at the last minute. Your chances of finding a great gift, under those circumstances, are slim at best. The Find It-Buy It Principle comes so naturally when we shop for ourselves. If we want to apply it to shopping for our friends and loved ones, we need to be more mindful of them when we are out in the world.
My Gift Story
I’ve dabbled in year-round thoughtfulness from time to time, so I have a reason to believe this is possible. I spent the summer after graduating from college with my Indiana grandmother. Between looking for my first “real job” and helping out on the farm, we ran all over southwest Indiana on fun day trips. One such trip was to Nashville, Indiana, a cute artsy community with an abundance of charming shops and restaurants.
It is a very walkable little town, which is a good thing because they are known for their fried biscuits and apple butter. We were fending off a food coma when we happened upon a gift shop. This little shop was selling hand-painted, collectible wooden cutouts of historic homes. I found one of a beautiful historic home in Charleston, South Carolina. It immediately conjured thoughts of childhood summers spent at the beaches near Charleston with my mother’s side of the family. So, I bought it for my Atlanta grandmother thinking that it would make a nice Christmas gift.
As I may have mentioned in other posts, my family has a very deliberate Christmas gift opening ritual. We unwrap one gift at a time, going from youngest to oldest (we have been known to cut loose and reverse the order on occasion). We go around the room like this until all of the gifts have been opened and adequately admired. This tradition has waned a bit since the introduction of nieces and nephews, but for this Christmas, we stayed true to tradition. In fact, on this particular Christmas, we decided that the gift giver had to tell a little story about the gift and why they chose it. We like to pile on the sentimentality.
When my grandmother’s turn to open my gift came around, I told the story about finding the cutout in July and the whole part about it reminding me of the summer vacations of my youth. Let’s be honest. It wasn’t a great story, but I think my grandmother enjoyed hearing that I was thinking of her on a random July day while shopping off a fried biscuit hangover more than the gift itself.
Final Thoughts
It seems pretty obvious that the Universe is telling us to be more mindful shoppers. Why and when we buy certain gifts for certain people tells a story of its own. Purchasing or making a gift should be driven by our desire to let our loved ones know that we are thinking about them, listening to them and paying attention. When we open ourselves up to looking for those opportunities I think we will be better, happier humans all around.
Photo by Artem Bali on Unsplash