Thought for today:

Many of us celebrate holidays with gift-giving.  Some of us keeping giving beyond a healthy point and don’t know when to stop.

Gift-giving should be a joyful thing, but we don’t want to over-do it, right?  How?

“I used to give a lot to people during the holidays, to the point of not taking care of my needs.  January would come around, and I would get hit with huge charges I couldn’t pay, and it would take months to pay off December’s gifts.

“DA taught me that I didn’t need to use credit cards, and that I didn’t need to buy beyond my Spending Plan.

“Getting through the Holidays was a challenge that first year, but after it was all over, I was grateful that I didn’t have the usually debts come January.  I had given from my heart.  For the first time in a long time, I was not so concerned with impressing anyone else by my gift.  I was totally focused on sharing the spirit of thanksgiving.”

Grateful gift-giving

When we give a gift to another, we express appreciation for the person they are.  We enjoy the idea of them enjoying the gift.  We think through how we will feel having spent money on their gift.

Anorexic spenders will agonize over spending anything, and the flip-side compulsive shoppers will feel guilty if they don’t give in excess.  A middle ground of gratitude is the goal.

But the two sides of the gift – the cost and the joy – are both worth considering.  We can let go of expectations for perfection, and simply know in our hearts what we want to say to that person.

Gifts show our innermost thoughts and feelings.  Our gift reveals what words alone cannot adequately express.  When we focus on discovery of the person, their inner existence, we tap into grateful gift-giving.  We are grateful they are in our lives.

We can do all of this within a Spending Plan we prepare with the help of our Pressure relief Group and sponsor.  That’s one of the reasons we have such a plan.