Hi

Receiving gifts is one of the five love languages (that occasionally do the rounds). Presents you can hold: square boxes, lovingly wrapped. Meanwhile, the thing most of us are actually short of is time – plain, usable time. Time that isn’t already shredded into confetti by errands, messages or lifemin.

So here is a last minute gift idea that could be deeply valuable to the recipient.

Give someone time!

Not a we should catch up sometime in the new year, but a clear block where they're free ... to catch up, de-stress or just breathe; a moment that lets their nervous system recover.

Here are some ways to give time as a present ...

1. Take a (don't want to do) job off their list: the supermarket run, the tip, the returns, the pharmacy, the post office queue.
2. Cook a double batch and drop round two portions labelled Midweek Rescue.
3. Offer a childcare swap with a specific slot: Saturday 10–1, you disappear, I’ve got this. Or offer free babysitting or carer relief. 
4. Do the lifemin grind for them: booking appointments, chasing an insurer, sorting a bill, cancelling subscriptions.
5. Give them a quiet morning voucher: you handle breakfast, pets, and logistics, they get a slow start.
6. Take over a commute or a lift.
7. Do a garden makeover or house tidy for them. 
8. Make a plan they don’t have to make: research and book the train, the table, the tickets, the accommodation.
9. A repair session: you come round with tools and fix the one small thing that’s been annoying them for months.
10. A proper walk and a proper listen: one unrushed hour, phones away, no fixing, no agenda.
11. Buy time back with cash: a cleaner, a laundry service, a meal delivery, a taxi instead of the late bus.
12. Cover a regular pressure point for a month: I’ll do the weekly shop every Sunday in January.

You can also ask for time as your gift. A few scripts ideas:

• If you want to get me something, could you take one annoying task off my plate in January?
• I’d love two hours of uninterrupted time. You pick the day, you run interference.
• Instead of stuff, can we book a morning together where neither of us has to rush?

Small note: the next Day Crafting Foundation is open to book, starting Monday 2nd February. (It also makes a good gift).

One last reminder, if you get some time and space to yourself over the next few weeks, make your rest effective rather than passive.

Love and blessings. 

Bruce

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