The Gift Economy

I just finished “The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World” by Robin Wall Kimmerer and it was so good I needed to come here to talk about. Except…I kinda already did. I have two different posts about why I share so much here for free. You can read those here and here. I don’t call what I’m doing “The Gift Economy” in those posts but it’s very much there.

I think there’s something really powerful to talk about reciprocally sharing things here in a time when there’s a price tag on every little thing. We need to start reimagining what our society is going to look like, because this? This that is happening right now? This isn’t sustainable. There are ads on literally everything. Every screen, every window, every piece of mail, every service you pay to have no ads, now has ads! You have to pay for your seat warmers in your car to work. And to listen to music that used to be free on the radio.

But there’s a relaxing I feel when I decide to give away something for free. It reminds me that so much of what I have isn’t really mine anyway. Kimmerer talks about “storing my meat in the belly of my brother” which is to say, abundance is meant to be shared.

Find your people

I also just watched a documentary called “Join or Die” and it discusses the unraveling of our country based on the decline of people being involved in clubs. People don’t know each other any more. We all hang out in our own house and watch our own devices and do our own thing. We don’t bowl together, go to rotary club together, or go to church together. All of these institutions that previously held us together are dying out.

Just before the pandemic I joined ALWCA because I wanted to network with fellow women artists locally. It was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I love these colleagues I’ve met and turned into friends. We are all just hammering away in our studios by ourselves but we come together over the shared purpose and love of art and it’s nothing short of magic. It has once again shown me the power of a collective.

I also have a smaller group of friends who meet every couple of weeks at my kitchen table. We laugh about silly things and craft and eat snacks. And we lean on each other when times are hard. We are practicing living life together. Not when we have it all together. Or when our houses are clean enough. Not when there’s time in the schedule. We are just taking the time and doing it now. These friends are my ride or dies.

I hope you have a group you hang out with. If you don’t, please go find one. Whatever your interests are, poke around and find some folks you can hangout with in person. I love me a good zoom art session but you need to be in the room with real live people. We deserve a group that is a soft place to fall in these hard times.

Share the things

I am a maker by nature so I think, maybe? sharing comes easier for me? I don’t know. I just know that giving things away makes me feel good. Who doesn’t like getting a gift? We all do. And if it’s something someone made, even better.

Sharing builds community and good will. I share a few rolls of toilet paper with you this week. Next week you share some extra produce you have. We build trust and reliance on each other. Maybe it won’t fix all that’s wrong in the world but it might make it so we feel a bit better about our place in the world and each other. Which means we might be a little more willing to stick up for each other.

I don’t know what sharing looks like for you but for me it’s sharing art, handmade things, and my time with others. My own personal gift economy.

What are you giving away? Do you have a group you love? I’d love to hear about it! Email me or start a conversation by leaving a comment on this post! If you’d like to keep up with what I’m working on, I’d love to have you as a newsletter subscriber. I include blog posts from here, cool things I find online, and pictures of my dogs. Sign up here.