The Gift I Missed

Last Christmas I missed out on one of my gifts.  I wasn't paying attention and I totally missed it.  Here's what happened: 

Before Christmas I received an email from a friend asking if I had gotten her present.  I hadn't.  The present should have arrived by email.  After checking my spam folder I found it.  The email was from this friend's daughter, who is a social marketing expert.  Here it is:

Over this beautiful picture were the following words: 

"This year my mother___wanted to gift you something a little different because of how amazing you are!!

She paid for your first month of designs ($) to grow your business and start your year out strong."

 Wow!  I thought!  How generous!  I get to spend ($) on free, beautiful advertising!  How wonderful!

Then I didn't do anything about it for a couple of weeks. 

Finally both my friend and her daughter reached out to me.  I ended up on a phone call where I learned that I had missed my present because.......I didn't scroll down.  Had I scrolled down past the picture I would have found that she had already created a beautiful Christmas post for me to use on Instagram and Facebook that all I had to do was copy and paste.  By the time I finally caught on to what the present was, December was already over.  I had missed it.  I had been given a beautiful gift, but because I wasn't paying attention I missed it.  

Do you ever miss things because you're not fully paying attention?  Something good is in reach, but because you're distracted, half paying attention, you miss it? 

This is not the first time I have missed out because I was not paying attention.

(In the end, this generous marketer agreed to redesign my post so I could use it in January.)

More than missing out on announcements,  opportunities and gifts, I look backward and realize that I have sometimes missed out on being fully present with my children and other loved ones.  

Time is a gift that does not repeat itself.  

Being preoccupied and busy with "tasks" or other seemingly urgent but not important happenings can lead to missing out on never-to-be repeated conversations and quality time.

So, if I may offer one piece of unsolicited advice this Christmas season?  Be fully present.  Pay attention to what counts.  Yes, all those preparations "need" to get done (or do they?), but when you look back you won't regret not getting everything done, but you will regret being distracted from what really matters.  

In other words, don't forget to scroll down.

P.S.  I'm starting a new podcast in January called Just Love Them!  Details to come!