Balancing Minimalism & Culture In The Act Of Gifting.

Gifting means a lot of things to me, and I believe it's a universal language of kindness because that's what it signifies. Whenever a gift is sent or received, it falls into one of these categories- expression of love, care, and even appreciation. Sadly, gifting sometimes comes with negative intentions, which doesn't make any sense to me. I believe when sending gifts, it should be done wholeheartedly because that's the only way you, as a sender, can derive any form of happiness from your action.

In this part of the world where I live, gifts are highly appreciated, and I cherish gifts as much as I cherish the sender. I do not care about the size or how expensive the gift is; I focus more on the kind gesture and always find a way of reciprocating.

As much as I enjoy giving gifts for different reasons, even though my gifts aren't always packaged with ribbons on them, I love receiving them too. Whether I give out or receive it, there is this special feeling (happiness) that comes with it. Despite this feeling, there are instances when the gifts received are of no use to me, and they automatically become unwanted.

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Diving deep into the act of gifting, my lifestyle and culture don't play along very well. As a minimalist, taking things that are of no use to me contradicts my lifestyle. It would only cause cluttering, which I detest a lot, but rejecting gifts is taboo to an extent in my culture. A lot of people take it as a sign of disrespect, especially when it involves older people, particularly among family members.

_{During my teenage years, there was a particular lady who liked me a lot, and because I love blue dresses, she didn't get tired of giving them to me as gifts. It got to a point that I didn't want the clothes anymore, so I started giving them out. She saw my friend putting on one of those clothes, and it pissed her off. I had to explain why, and she was offended, thinking I was stylishly turning down her gift, which wasn't the case. That small incident affected our relationship, and slowly, we became strangers.}

I have seen instances where rejecting a gift became the origin of malice in a family and somehow led to a huge misunderstanding, which I don't want, so while trying to protect my lifestyle and as well respect my culture, I must be smart.

_{Another instance was a friend who sells kitchen utensils; she had the habit of bringing gifts when visiting, and I appreciate that, but getting mugs from her always wasn't cool with me so I politely told her about it, and she stopped gifting me mugs. Now, I get fruits or wine, which is good.}

For me, it all boils down to people's level of understanding, because if a person turns down my gift politely with a good excuse, I would automatically look for someone else who needs it. In fact, this shouldn't bring about any issue.

There are people I can pour out my mind to regarding what gift they presented to me. I can easily tell them that I don't need that particular thing, and instead of it lying around valueless with me, it would be of better use for someone else, and they wouldn't find it offensive because they understand my lifestyle quite well, but some would take it as something else, so instead of saying anything, I will take the gift, show appreciation, and in the end, give it out—a gift being unwanted usually doesn't change my ways of showing appreciation.

I understand the act of gifting and always pay attention to people's needs before deciding what to gift them, and this should be the same thing for everyone. During the festive season, I gave my neighbors drinks as a gift, and that's because of what happened in the previous year.

I went to dispose of some waste and was shocked to find food waste in large quantities inside the waste bin. It happened because everyone in my compound gifted one another cooked food, and I believe each family had excess. I got this food as well but took it to a football field where I do hang out sometimes, and the boys there were happy to have that food. So I thought instead of adding to those foods that would go to waste, I better give drinks that can be kept until they are needed.

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Because of my culture, it's hard to turn down gifts, but allowing culture to compromise my minimalist lifestyle would be a huge mistake, so gifting someone who needs what was gifted to me is a fair deal. That way, I don't hurt someone's feelings or hurt myself in any way.

_{All Image Are Mine.}

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