Why I Still Give Gifts to Family

Even if they keep giving it away.

Every time I travel around Southeast Asia, I buy a lot of gifts for my family. It’s my way of bringing back a piece of what I’ve experienced and shows them that I miss them.

But over the years, I’ve realized that most of the gifts I’ve given has been given away, repurposed as a gift for someone else.

At first, it made me mad, knowing that I’d spent hours, or even a few days, searching for these gifts. And I just felt unappreciated.

But then I realized by giving them a gift, I’ve already fulfilled my purpose — showing them I care and that I’ve thought of them.

Whatever they choose to do with the gift is their choice and should have little to do with how they see me. In fact if you think about it, if they’re able to use what I’ve given them and repurpose it as a gift for someone else, isn’t that the best compliment, because they’re saying that my gift is useful or interesting enough to be gifted to someone else?

Looking at it from that way, what I’ve given is really full of value.

P.S. Mom, if you’re reading this, I’ll admit now that I gave away all my socks from the last four Christmases. My friends loved them!

This post was originally published on misstiffanysun.com. You can find all of my posts, including ones I don’t post on Medium at misstiffanysun.com.