Every Thursday, I provide simple tips to help you create more pauses — with a generous sprinkling of humor — in 5 minutes or less.

A big thank you to everyone who clicked on my real sponsor last newsletter. I did not realize clicking the link would automatically subscribe you to their newsletter, and if I did, I would not have included it as a sponsor. I’m sorry! That feels gimmicky to me. I will try not to include such sponsorships moving forward.

Free Gifts

I’ve always prided myself on my gift-giving skills.

Today, I'm going to highlight one of the best gifts I've given and one of the best gifts I've received.

First, the gift I gave…

Last year, my partner Morgan celebrated her birthday on September 22nd—the same day she does every year. Her b-day is just 27 days after our anniversary on August 26th.

I decided to send her on a 27-day scavenger hunt to bridge the two celebratory events! (And only need to get her one present).

Every rising at 10AM, Morgan received a text containing a riddle related to one of our memories or inside jokes.

Once she solved where in our apartment the riddle led to, she would find a new gourmet chocolate truffle for both of us to taste.

The total cost? ~$25 for the chocolates, and some of my time. Honestly, it was a blast to come up with the riddles, and I automated the daily texts, so I didn't need to really do much.

The result? One of Morgan (and my) favorite gifts ever.

Second, the gift I received…

For my 30th birthday in 2023, Morgan apparently couldn’t be bothered to spend a single fucking dollar on my gift.

The pieces of paper in the two mason jars were my gift.

On each of the 30 pieces, Morgan wrote one thing she loves about me.

Whenever the jars catch my eye, I take one piece of paper out, read it, feel immense gratitude and love, and put it in the other jar. Once a jar is empty, I go the other direction, and I never run out of paper.

The total cost? $0, and very little of Morgan’s time, as there are so many things to love about me it couldn’t have taken too long to think of thirty.

The result? One of my favorite gifts ever.

Ways to give memorable presents

I believe everyone loves a good riddle, scavenger hunt, or jigsaw puzzle.

If you are interested in streamlining a scavenger hunt like the one I did above, email me and I’ll share how I used two simple tools to make it a breeze. Substitute Morgan’s chocolate reward for whatever your gift receiver will value. You could combine the two gifts and have each reward be a “Reason I love you” piece of paper!

If your gift receiver enjoys jigsaw puzzles, check out Venus Puzzle. My family gets one of these every year and it’s one of the highlights of my year.

As long as your gift lets your gift receiver know you love them, it’s a great gift. In my experience, material goods that aren’t customized in some way struggle to have maximum impact.

So show the people you love that you love them, that you see them, that you know them.

And now that you know how to give memorable gifts for free, what fun activity could you fund with the money you've saved?

😄 Funny Business

📊 Community Poll

Results for last week’s question: Do/Did you heat up your Pop Tarts?

Like two tarts sticking together, there’s very little separation here. I’m in the minority as a room temperature fan.

On to this week’s question…

How I can help:

"You are a little soul carrying around a corpse." - Epictetus