There are lots of reasons to be proud of yourself and never let yourself on the last place when it comes to making someone happy.
When it comes to picking from either offering something or receiving a present, I will answer straight forward, without even thinking about it, that I do love to make people I care about happy with gifts.
Actually, I am a pretty economical person who hardly breaks the piggy bank for herself, but only when it's really needed, which in the end comes with less happiness than it would be if I purchase it when I feel to.
Being an introvert always made me feel weird and difficult to be exteriorized and show what I feel when I receive a present during the holidays or my birthday, and that slowly made me feel happier when I offer, rather than receive something.
There are two different states of happiness you feel when it comes to either receive or offer a gift, but when you get to do both of them at the same time by offering yourself a present, we are talking about a more powerful state of joy that has a bigger impact on yourself than you realize.
Researchers have found that offering gifts stimulates the same neural network that lights up when you get to feel a physical pleasure such as eating your favourite ice cream or washing your hands with warm water during the winter when it's cold outside. The feeling of generosity doesn't only work at the moment when you make someone happy, but actually the whole process of it, from before, during, and after the giving.
The happiness of giving was always more powerful than the one of receiving, and probably there are many of you who feel happier to offer rather than receive something. That's a different style of happiness that works towards your body.
However, when it comes to making a gift for yourself, it's a two-for-one deal and along with the benefits and emotions presented before, there is also the mental happiness that works like treating yourself nice because you matter and you are proud of yourself, a thing that always counts heavier if lately you felt like you didn't really matter enough to the people around you. In plus, when you offer yourself something (even if it's something very little), you are going to tend to want to offer even more presents to your loved ones because you already experienced a greater well-being that works towards others with kindness, patience, altruism, and other similar moods of being a better person.
Making gifts for yourself can come in many forms, from physical objects that bring you joy, from simple breaks taken at work, more sleep in the morning, cooking something you love eating, doing an investment into something you believe, playing your favourite video game, and so on.
However, I call myself being lucky that I am part of a generation that didn't have a mobile phone or other gadgets from my first day in life, and I actually received a phone quite late when almost everyone from my class already owned one, but that didn't make me feel jealous on the others but appreciate more the real life.
Along with the many activities I was doing when I was a kid, there was to go rollerskating or ride a bike until the sun was setting.
It was literally impossible to feel when the hours and time were passing because it was that kind of pure and childish happiness without thinking too much about adult life and other things.
That resulted in lots of scars on my knees and elbows due to all the moments when I felt cooler than I should, trying to ride the bike without keeping my hands on the handlebar or trying to do a wheelie even if my bicycle was not made for that kind of activity, but which in the end, is the real proof that I had one of the most beautiful childhoods that not too many get to enjoy in the 21st century.
I always loved sports, and not a long time ago I won an electric longboard which woke up my inner child thinking about all those (g)old times when I was younger. I was never good at skating and every time I was trying to get up on one, I was ending up on the ground in no time, but that made me even more determined to learn to do it now because it's never too late to learn something new.
And I did it, even though I realized that I would still enjoy more to have a bicycle as I had in the past.
It's not a surprise anymore that this pandemic comes with a lot of anxiety and overthinking for the people who don't manage to get outside of their houses as much as they used to before everything have started.
So I decided that it's a reason in plus to make myself a gift a bicycle that I already had in mind for a while.
I decided to go for a mountain bike instead of the bicycles used for city walks girls usually get, because overall, mountain and travelling off-road is another passion of mine, and hopefully, one day when I will feel more secure about my abilities to ride a bike, it will bring me to more beautiful places closer to nature.
The bicycle I purchase is a Rockrider MTB ST 100 with 27,5" wheels and V-break and it cost me around 200 EUR.
Before purchasing it, I had a different one that was bought from an online shop and had disc brakes but which made me jump from happiness to sadness in no time after I unpacked it and made it into a single piece, due to lots of technical serious problems that made it impossible to be used.
After that incident, I decided to go to a local shop and purchase it directly from there to avoid any other inconveniences. I knew that disc brakes are the most recommended ones if you are able to invest a little bit more into a bicycle, especially if you plan to also use it off-road, but after lots of research and reviews watched, I came to the conclusion that there is no better option for me in my budget and the Rockrider purchased acts way better than any other competitor with V-brakes.
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However, as any girl that finally gets something on wheels as a gift, I felt like tunning it a little and give a personal touch as being owned by a girl with the little crown details on the wheels instead of the common caps, and add a new bell closer to the colour of it.
I was also purchasing a bundle of 100 stickers related to camping and mountaineering which I wanted to use to cover it entirely, but I fell in love too much with its neon looking and I decided to wait a little longer until applying them and maybe use these only if somehow I hit it and a part of the paint goes away.
There are still some other things that I want to purchase for both Aiko and I (because yes, I gave her a name 😅), such as a bicycle jack, a helmet, a locker, a bottle holder and phone holder, but these will come during the time and I can't wait to go on new adventures and journeys other than by driving a car. ❤️
SEE YOU IN THE NEXT TRIP! 🗾
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