Treat Yo Self - Holiday Edition

The other day, someone at work posed the question to us: “What is your least favorite part about Christmas?” After a lot of the usual silly things like fruitcake (which I have never eaten but would actually like to try if anyone knows a good baker of such treats), hearing the same song in every store you walk into for weeks, and just before I got to add “bad Hallmark movies,” someone took the risk and said “buying presents for everyone because society says we have to.”

Now this is a thing I can get behind. By which I mean I can get behind the idea of ceasing to do so.

I’m all in favor of giving presents. I’m all in favor of giving presents all year long. I don’t need an occasion, I will make one if I find something that genuinely makes me think warm and happy thoughts about the person I’m giving it to. (Okay, this is also because my ADD will cause me to forget if I put something away for some future date, but that’s another story for another time.)

I’m also at a point in my life where I don’t really want to receive gifts “just because.” I moved this year, and I have spent the better part of six months trying to get rid of extraneous things I’ve accumulated. When there is something that I really want, I’m likely to buy it myself.

I definitely encourage this.

Story time: I’ve been thinking about getting myself an iPad for several months. When I was first starting to toss around the idea of starting my own online store, one thing I considered selling was planner stickers, and I thought they might be easier to design on the iPad, but quickly scrapped the idea when I got better with my smaller pens. I’d also had an iPad before, and eventually gave it to my father because I just wasn’t using it enough. But well, when the model you’ve been eying is suddenly available on Christmas Eve… that’s fate. You have to buy it. Right?

I brought it home and opened it right away. I paired up the pencil and started practicing with the pressure and sizing and not only was I surprised by how quickly my handwriting adjusted… I drew something.

Technically created a little after the winter solstice, but hey, the sentiment stands.

I drew something.

I need to emphasize this for a couple of reasons. One, I have struggled with visual art for basically my entire life. I became a writer because when I got frustrated being unable to perfectly articulate the image in my head as an actual image, I needed words to do it. Two, it may be just a doodle, but it’s a doodle I was instantly proud of and ready to share with people. And that means I’m ready to do it again.

I’m ready to get better.

So regardless of what you opened for your holiday(s) this year, if there’s something you were considering, something you wanted but didn’t receive, something you maybe weren’t sure you could ask for, I encourage you to get it for yourself. Get it because you deserve it. Get it because you deserve to go into the new year ready to grow and thrive.