With everything going on around us, it seems ridiculous for me to get back to work as a thoughtfulness curator today. I mean, it’s not fully recognized as a profession and I am not urgently needed. Especially because we’ve all witnessed whenever the nation is faced with adversity, true thoughtfulness emerges in the form of community and humanity. So there’s really nothing I need to do. People will collect their own thoughts during this time of uncertainty by consulting sources whether it’s news on TV, radio, podcasts, YouTube, social media, newspapers, church/priests, therapists and then the act of thoughtfulness will automatically surface. Ta-Dah! Silver linings.

I’ve decided that even though this topic may be insignificant at a time like this, I might as well keep plugging along. I’ll just continue to spread the word that I have curated 10 styles of thoughtfulness. For the past two weeks, I have talked about four of the ten styles. Two weeks ago in this post, I described thoughtfulness styles that begin with the letter “P” - professional and/or proper and in last week’s post, I described the styles that begin with the letter “I” - influenced and insightful. It’s time to talk about the styles that begin with the letter “N”.

If you’re into numbers - then this style is right up your alley. Numbers, when pertaining to thoughtfulness, could refer to the number of dollars we spend for each person, the number of people we give gifts to and/or the number of times per year we give them gifts. Here’s an example that includes all three numbers: You’re someone who gives gifts that cost $50 to 10 people 2x a year. Once those numbers are determined, it should help shape just how thoughtful you can be because it’s pretty much like setting a budget. Numbers act like a guideline, keeping the focus on finding the best gifts. This could mean the best gifts for the number of times a year you give a gift to someone. If you give a gift to someone once a year, it may be a pretty significant gift. My family gives thoughtful pinches to twenty-five teachers a year for every holiday during the school year. Those gifts are very small but I try to find the best gifts that I can for $1 or $2 each. Another way to understand numbers is maybe you’re someone who limits the amount of people you give gifts to each year in order to give very meaningful gifts to those special people. In some ways, having a number (any of the three kinds of numbers) can be challenging but in other ways, it can be very liberating because we can only do so much with what we have budgeted. This style is creativity and thoughtfulness meets realistic goals.

The second type of thoughtfulness that begins with the letter “N” is Names. If you identify with this style, you’re someone who loves to give gifts that are personalized with the recipient’s name. As in monogram, baby! You’re someone who feels that putting a name in stitching is the best (only) way for the thoughtful pinch to convey that it was made especially for them. If this is your style, you have the monogram place on speed dial and you have memorized their time table on how fast they can turn your order around. You’re someone who give gifts to the person who does your monogramming because they have made you into an awesome gift giver.

And I’m sneaking in a third style of thoughtfulness but it does fall under Names so there’s technically only two styles that begin with the letter “N” . This style is about someone who likes to buy name brand gifts - aka someone who pays the going rate for their gifts. If you are someone who shares your thoughtfulness using this style, you’re the person who wants your recipients to have the latest and the greatest. Think about when fidget spinners first came out. You couldn’t get them fast enough so you paid for expedited shipping (which was like 5 times more than the cost of the fidget spinner itself) because you wanted the recipient to have the latest toy before anyone else could get their hands on one. Or maybe you’re the one who was giving Yeti cups as gifts before anyone else could even pronounce Yeti. You get the drift. You are not afraid to pay full price for your gifts because you are a trend setter.

Do any of these styles of thoughtfulness resonate with you? That’s ok if you see yourself as one or more of these styles. Or maybe none call out to you - that’s fine too. I will be reviewing styles of thoughtfulness that begin with the letter “C” next week so maybe you’ll relate to one or two of those styles. Before I go, remember to own your own style(s) and don’t compare yourself to others. At the end of March, we will review all of the styles and we’ll see which styles you gravitate to.

Pinches,

Barb