I was thinking about how our culture views gift-giving and relationships here in America. Christmastime comes with a flurry of presents, but after working in retail sales, I recognized a bizarre trend that many other cultures don't partake in, returning.
I will start first by discussing gifts. Honestly, gift receipts to me say, here is a gift that someone put time and effort into picking out for you, but if you don't like it, pick something else out. Where is the value in being grateful? What would it look like to keep the gifts we are given and just enjoy them? By returning them and exchanging or just asking for the money in return, we are completely "rejecting" the present. I cannot count how many times I have helped customers with a return that they didn't want the original buyer knowing about. We may not like the cat sweater given to us for our birthday or Christmas, but if someone near and dear to us gave it, we can probably find some importance in the feline fashion.
Taking a more serious approach, let's talk divorce, another harsh form of embracing a return policy perspective. "This person didn't work for me, I want to return and find a new one" (please note for cases of infidelity or abuse I am not advocating to remain in a dangerous or unfaithful situation). What do our relationships with people say about our value of partnership and love?
How about in friendships? Surface-level friendships say you upset me or you don't agree with me, now I want a new friend. Buy. Dislike. Return. Exchange. Repeat.
Challenge: Who and what are you exchanging? Why are you letting go of things so easily? Is it maybe because you don't want to deal with the "problems" or because there is good reason to re-evaluate the relationship or gift? Take five minutes today and see, do you actually need to embrace the return policy perspective, or can you hold on even if things are less than favorable?