It’s the most ̶w̶o̶n̶d̶e̶r̶f̶u̶l̶ wearisome time of the year! Stressful travel, crowded malls, out of touch relatives- what’s not to love about the holidays? Fear not, readers, we’re here to help get you through the panic and anxiety with a list of extremely valid reasons to justify stepping back, taking a break, and recognizing that special someone who you may have lost sight of among the chaos of shopping lists and double-booked calendars- YOU!
You’ve had a solid year and now is the time to reflect back on all your work, accomplishments, learnings, and teachings. Pretty impressive! Sounds like somebody deserves a reward.
That said, here are five great reasons to gift yourself this December.
1 — It Feels Great… Literally!
Multiple studies have found that the act of giving stimulates the neural networks ignited when we feel certain physical pleasures, like wrapping yourself up in a comfortable blanket or eating a peanut butter cup (or five). Essentially, generosity sparks internal happiness.
On the flip side, there’s receiving. Who doesn’t love the excitement of opening a mysterious wrapped birthday gift or the unexpected appreciation felt when your friend picks up the check at lunch?
Well, good news, because if you combine giving and receiving into the same gesture, when you’re both the benefactor and the beneficiary, your heart and brain may elicit extreme joy! We’re not just talking about any joy here, we’re talking about the type of joy you experience on your first snow day in elementary school. Massive joy.
So go ahead and buy yourself that concert ticket you originally thought was a little too pricey, or pick up that pair of jeans you know you don’t need (but really want), or just take a personal day at the spa or movie theater if that’s your thing. You can thank yourself later.
2 — Your Family is Really Bad at Gifting
We’ve all been there. You open up a present and realize that mom still thinks you’re into the cute kid who won American Idol last decade, or your partner made the (incorrect) assumption that you’ll look totally hot in overalls. You smile and say thank you, but are internally mapping out a route to the nearest donation center.
Family members always have the best intentions, but sometimes you need to take matters into your own hands. So, go buy yourself the cool record player that will bring you hours of musical enjoyment and, while you’re at it, you’re also going to need a new sweater to cover up those sweet bib buckles. Everybody wins.
3 — It’s Deal Season!
One of the unexpected pleasures of holiday shopping is that you can scope out all the “buy one, get one” and “75% off” promotions that seemingly every retailer in the world is running to compete for your business- take advantage of it! You may not think it’s completely necessary to upgrade your HDTV by a few inches, but have you seen the latest Marvel movie in 4K yet? Totally worth it. Oh, and it sounds much better with a Sonos Soundbar, so throw one of those in your cart while you’re at it.
Pro Tip: Take care of all your holiday shopping for others early, so that the later it gets in the holiday season, the steeper the deals come for you to pamper yourself with.
4 — Because Rocketbook
Ok, hear us out on this one. Because you’re a genius and you likely already own a Rocketbook reusable notebook, you haven’t had to spend a dime on wasteful old paper notebooks in ages. All those savings add up to literally dozens of dollars you can now put toward yourself! And you can always put those savings toward another reusable Rocketbook product. Just think of how much you’ll have to spend on yourself next year!
5 — You Deserve It
Look, we don’t know that this is true. In fact, it may very well be completely inaccurate. But that’s between you and your conscience. You know what you did.
In all seriousness, you really should self-gift this season. Self-improvement starts with a feeling of doing good and simply put, giving is good. We’ll remind you again: generosity sparks internal happiness. And if putting your money or time towards a donation, or volunteering for your community, or taking a sumo wrestling class is what elicits that feeling, that totally fits into this category as well!
The message here is that however you decide to self-gift this season, take a moment to appreciate yourself and all that you do. You deserve it!
