Mindful Holiday Shopping

The world is on fast forward and I figured I should write about the Holidays. I mean to include holidays where there is shopping for others. I personally only am aware of Hanukkah and Christmas, that is my knowledge base.

The season of giving where most people great debt for themselves. So what do I say?  "stop!"

Those of us raised in the United States,  are raised to believe that we must GIVE during this season.
 " It is better to give than to receive." That is all good and that goes for charity organizations. The end of year is when folks look for a tax deduction and look for charities that they want to help. Does that sound cold? That folks look for tax deductions, well it's a reality.

My focus today is really on the consumer, the average person and their outlook on the holiday.
Global warming and the environment are a controversial issue but the reality is there is a lot of plastic and a lot of waste and it gets to be too much. Again, it's controversial but let's look at storage units and how many people have things in storage, paying several thousands of dollars a year directly being deducted from an account or credit card, because we pay but we don't want to know how much. Too painful!

Every event , from kids birthday parties on up has bags of "goodies" most not that good and we take stuff out of the bag and say " what do I do with this?!" " Ugh, more crap"

We have several different type of "dollar stores " that sell things we truly don't need. Let's think of the square footage that is taking up. We don't need more stuff!

So then comes Christmas and Hanukkah. Many are socialized to believe that they have to give a gift that " says something" - meaning, the person getting it will " know they are respected, loved," fill in the blank.

So we stress ourselves, fight each other at the mall parking lot, and create general unhappiness in order to celebrate a holiday that we end up forgetting what we are celebrating.

Hint, hint:  you don't have to go broke, you can give a cute gift. You don't have to buy the car like the commercial tells you to. No need for the expensive jewelry. Instead, spend time with people. Remember these people during the year not just in December. Best advice, enjoy the season with people who's company you enjoy. You don't have to buy a bunch of " stocking stuffers" that will eventually stuff an old drawer at some one's house.

Relax, enjoy, take time off and relax as you enter 2020.

Thanks for reading. You can also find me on Facebook: Libia Casas, LCSW
and Instagram PsychLibiaLCSW.