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There continues to be an increase in people who are feeling generally anxious. The problem is that we look outside of ourselves instead of inwardly for happiness, but we truly have the power to create happiness for ourselves. In the beginning of Mauss's book "The Gift," he talks about how we can apply the theory of the gift to ourselves to learn more about solidarity and trust. Being aware of yourself (self-awareness) allows for better insight into others and in turn society. On page 89 it states, “He must act by taking into account his own interests and those of society and its subgroups.” It is important to balance using gifting for yourself and others. For example, think about being on an airplane. There is a point in this experience where you will be taught the safety procedures of what to do in the event of an emergency. The flight attendant will tell you that when you are putting on an oxygen mask you should put on yours before assisting others. This is a great metaphor for why it is important to give to yourself because when you take time for yourself you can better serve others. Mauss says gifting helps maintain peace and balance between people and communities. Even throughout history, the idea of a gift was seen as a way to keep peace. An example of this can be seen when we look at the Statue of Liberty given to the United States by France, which was done to maintain good relations between the two countries. So, to sum this all together I want to talk about the theory of “the gift” and its relationship to self-gifting because it helps benefit our wellbeing.
Self-gifting is probably not a term you hear very often yet, it helps to release stress from work, school, and life. When you take the time to create an experience that you love, you are putting time and energy back into yourself. A study found that people who participated in the act of self-gifting became less stressed and felt happier before and after giving themselves something and this is why it is an essential part of health and wellness. The gift plays a role here because when you look at the spirit of the gift that Mauss talks about, the spiritual power of the gift passes from giver to receiver and so when you give a gift to yourself you are harnessing that power for yourself. Now I don’t think that it is reasonable to always give yourself gifts but a healthy balance of giving to yourself and others is important. Mauss also talks about the three obligations of gift giving which are to give, receive, and reciprocate, which is a cycle of giving, the other part is to destroy a gift.
This ties into my next thought that not participating in self-giving destroys one's peace and happiness. When you destroy the opportunity to give to yourself, you take it away from yourself. Mauss states to destroy a gift is to take away power from the gift itself. So, if you don’t give yourself anything then it becomes obvious why feeling more anxious and depressed happens. There needs to be a balance in expending energy (or power) to us and others. Without receiving anything through self-gifting it becomes easy to be stuck in a loop of being the giver and not the receiver, this might explain why it feels draining to our minds and body. Enhancing overall well-being through self-gifting is important to not just us but society as well because it improves our mood which in turn improves how we act to those around us.
I think it is important to note that self-gifting doesn’t have to be tied to consumerism. We don’t need to consume to give to ourselves, which is the Western cultural way of looking at self-gifting. I believe that this can be done through the way that you invest time in yourself. You can do things like read a book you enjoy, visit your favorite park for a walk, spend time at your favorite museum on free days, catch up on your favorite tv show or movie, or journal. All these things listed don’t require you to buy an outfit or spend money on things but rather just take time to do things that pour energy back into yourself.
Positive benefits of self-gifting as suggested in an article by Marrisa Norton on thirdunder.com is that this can help one become motivated toward completing goals. If you take the time to celebrate achievements through self-gifting, it is more likely that the behaviors you are exhibiting will become a habit and keep you motivated to do what you are doing by triggering a reward signal for a task being completed. When we purchase things as a form of self-gifting plays a role in how we choose to identify ourselves. Therefore, self-gifting empowers self-identity through the clothing we choose to purchase and what we like to do for fun. Lastly, as I mentioned earlier, it improves our mood by increasing happiness and therefore increasing our wellness. Overall, you can see that the gift in our relationship with ourselves has a very positive impact as long as we don’t overindulge.
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