But, there have been so many times where I think people expect me to jump up and down with joy and instead I'm like 'meh' because quite frankly.. it takes a LOT to impress me. It's not as if I grew up being spoiled or anything; I just have specific ideas in my head. It's rare for someone else to hit the mark. It causes my poor husband a lot of stress.
This is where the phrase, "I'm so happy for you!" comes in rather frequently. Or, "I so appreciate the effort you put into this." "Thank you for thinking of me." "I can tell this comes from the heart."
I think it helped me a lot when I shifted from responding to the outcome to responding to the person generating it, and what this meant for our relational connection. The product itself is secondary.
