Gifting is common worldwide and is an act that everyone is familiar with. But despite its normalcy, there is something intimate and exceptional about how gifting affects our relationships.
The perks of gifting might not be apparent when you do it as a mundane task to fulfill some responsibility, which happens to many of us. But when you show your care through a personally picked gift to your loved ones, where you have put in good intentions & effort, the overall joy it elicits for you and the other person is undeniable.
This is why gift-giving is considered such an essential aspect of maintaining good relationships. Whether it be during festivals or special occasions, we naturally gravitate towards making the people around us happy with mindful presents, not just as a token of our love but also as blessings. Be it gifts for boys, girls or the elderly, our intentions behind it remain the same: to make them feel cared for.
In fact, some people express their affection exclusively through gifts. Similarly, some people love receiving presents as a surprise. They feel over the moon even when they get something as small as a chocolate bar. So, it won’t be an overstatement to say that gift-giving is an art of creating joyous memories with people we cherish, wherein we end up feeling content ourselves.
But how exactly does gift-giving strengthen our bond with others and make us feel cheerful? Keep reading to find out!
The impact on relationships
It is human nature to crave appreciation and love from others, especially from people we deem important. Gift-giving resonates with this phenomenon at a much personal and intimate level. When we give a gift to a person, be it for their birthday or a festival, we ascertain their importance in our lives. We declare to them, ‘Yes, you deserve my time, care and efforts.’ So, gifting is bound to make your dear ones feel special. Irrespective of whether you present your gift personally or opt for online gift delivery, your unsaid words of affection reach the people around you with this selfless act of giving.
Following are a few ways in which gifting improves your relationships:-
- Your cherished ones find it validating when you spend your money and effort, however little that might be, into choosing something to excite them.
- It lets you create personal and special memories with specific people in your life. Your gift acts as a memento of the warmth you expressed at that particular moment.
- It allows you to share your goodwill with your dear ones on special days like their birthday, promotion, wedding celebration, anniversary, etc. Hence, making them feel closer to you.
- It keeps the bond between you and the special people in your life alive despite your busy schedule and even in the absence of regular personal meet-ups.
The impact on oneself
No matter how cliché it may sound, the truth is that our happiness lies in watching our friends, family and partner smile and giggle. This is the reason why doing something for them feels so good. All the surprises we plan, the gifts we pick, and the parties we ideate aim to make our tribe- the people that make life worth living, feel deep tenderness and happiness. This is the case for many of us, especially for people who find expressing their feelings through words difficult, as for them, gifting becomes a means to put forth their emotions of love. So, in the end, selfless gift-giving makes us feel joyful, content and proud when our presents manage to ‘wow’ our loved ones. After all, the shine in their eyes and the pep in their steps after seeing our gift is an emotion incomparable to anything else in the world.
Despite all the benefits of gift-giving, it can also be an anxiety-filled experience for someone. One can feel extremely overwhelmed by the idea of finding something ‘perfect’ or by their desire to impress another person. All of these emotions are valid, but at the same time, one should understand that gifting is just one form of expression of love. You don’t have to be an expert at it, as it is the action that counts. In fact, we can show our fondness to someone in many different ways.
