The holiday season is here. On November 26, families would dress up and gather for Thanksgiving dinner. Stories would be shared over good food including a turkey that was in the oven for four hours and red wine that would probably make the night fuzzy but warm. Spending time with family or loved ones makes the festivities a lot more meaningful. Being able to do so is a blessing in itself. After all, this season is about spreading and receiving love.
When you are in a place of gratitude, it becomes almost instinctive to pay it forward. You have so much love and happiness in your heart that you would want others to feel it too. Contrary to popular belief, paying it forward doesn’t have to be grand or fancy. It just needs to be genuine. Here are some ideas on how you could pay it forward this holiday season.
1. Offer free services.
If you’ve seen your friend wanting to take a break from taking care of her newborn baby, give her one night of freedom by offering to babysit for free. Your neighbor went home for the holidays to visit his sick mom so offer to walk his dogs every afternoon for free. You see your household tired from their work duties so offer free massage services while they rest. Your mom wants to finish repainting the garage while she’s also doing other errands. Offer to lend her a helping hand. You live nearby an old man’s house so you could offer to help him mow his lawn.
Being of service to others takes time and effort that they would surely recognize and appreciate. If they don’t, what matters is that you were able to help.
2. Give handmade gifts.
Why not bake cookies for your sister who’s coming home from college? Make a mixed tape for your friend who’s home for summer? Or write a poem for that colleague of yours whose mom passed away? Or maybe embellish scrapbook pages with photos of you and your beau? Handmade gifts are deeply personal and would surely tug the heartstring of your loved one. Again, this took time and effort and is a product of something you love to do.
3. Give practical gifts.
Make your gifts more meaningful by catering them to the recipient’s job, lifestyle or personality. Studies have shown that more people appreciate practical gifts than fancy ones they most probably won’t be able to use.
One gift that could help a friend, a special someone, your sibling, or your parents is ergonomic furniture. FlexiSpot has a desk bike, a single or dual monitor mount, a massage gaming chair, and height-adjustable electric frames that could help make their day-to-day living a breeze and/or a breather from tedious work. Currently, the frames are on sale for up to 35% if you shop from November 15 to November 25.
Another deal is that you’ll get your order for free if you are the first person to check out at 9 pm on both November 26 (Black Friday) and November 29 (Cyber Monday). Just make sure to share the challenge on social media for more people to hear the word (which in a way is also paying it forward!)
4. Do Good Samaritan acts or go incognito and help the less fortunate.
We could think of a hundred ways to do this but here are what comes to mind: drop off an extra bag of pet food at an animal shelter, secure a spot for another driver while you’re leaving the driveway. Pay for the toll or the grocery of the person behind you. They would surely be surprised once the cashier tells them about your gift. Your colleague may need a recommendation that you could offer to write. You may also leave a treat in your mailbox for your dedicated mailman. A restaurant just opened in your area and the staff was incredibly nice so give them a good Yelp review.
5. Share.
It feels good to be generous so whenever you can, do so. It’s not to ask favors from anyone or to win their approval; it’s more of being generous and sharing your blessings even though they are not a lot. For example, you could pay for the toll fee of the car behind you or give an extra gift card balance to the person next in line to you at the grocery store. Leave the laundromat with your change and a finished book at the airport seat. Offer a helping hand and share your time and hands to a stranger who wants to video record his proposal to his girlfriend that night. There are many ways you could share so please don’t hesitate to do so.
6. Sacrifice.
Paying it forward means having to put another person’s welfare before yours. Of course, you still have to take care of yourself but doing little sacrifices can warm someone’s heart and yours too. For example, the customer service representative of FlexiSpot was really nice and reliable in answering the calls. Write them a review for their supervisor to check and see their improving performance. When you are lined up at the grocery store, allow someone to go in front of you because they already have a lot of things on their plate, literally. Let your younger sister borrow your favorite dress or instead of buying a burger, buy fries for everybody to share. The last piece of candy was left on the table and you know your niece hasn’t eaten anything yet. Instead of grabbing it for your satisfaction, you would save it for your niece.
Final Thoughts
Sharing, giving, or paying it forward comes naturally to people who are happy and grateful. There are many ways on how you could pass your happiness to others. There is no formula; the only rule is that it has to come from the heart! When you do it unconditionally, you are rewarded with abundant happiness that no money could buy. It becomes even more special during the holiday season when everyone is in high spirits.
