Member-only story
Make Time to Appreciate Your Invisible Gifts
They’re the only ones we’ll carry with us until the end
When I turned 26, my dad quoted Hermann Hesse on my card:
“Stay as you are by changing every day.”
I don’t remember what present I got, but I do remember those words. Even though they technically weren’t his, my dad passing them on meant the world to me. In just eight words, he told me so much.
He told me he’d always love me for who I am, even if I was no longer the little guy building Duplo trains in his office. He acknowledged I was on a different path than he was — professionally, personally, any way whichever — and that was okay. He even encouraged me not to stop, for chasing change is what, ironically, makes us who we are.
They’re all like that, aren’t they? The best gifts are invisible. You can’t wrap them in fancy paper. Can’t send them in the mail.
There is nothing sadder than an influencer’s staged reaction when their spouse hands them another “surprise car” for their latest Youtube video. Where’s the context? Where’s the meaning?
Meanwhile, when The Rock gifts his stunt double a new truck, a 6'2" giant breaks down and cries. That’s not ecstasy induced by new rims — it’s 17 years of blood…
