Gift Card Therapy for Post Semester Anxiety

There is always a point in the semester where I get so caught up with academic assignments that I don’t have time for much else. That point can be almost accurately detected by how far and few in-between my blog posts become. Indeed I have spent the last month wrapping up what has been my last full-time, undergraduate semester. And though I still have a few finals next week, I have completed what was my most important undergraduate assignment; my senior thesis. The thesis was a twenty-page analysis of the slave narrative, From the Darkness Cometh the Light or Struggles for Freedom by the little known writer, Lucy Ann Delaney, wherein I establish Delaney’s work as a “transitional narrative” within the black, female literary tradition.

For now, I must focus on final exams, and then just after Christmas, on New Years Eve, I’ll be attempting the BIG, UGLY, EVIL GRE again. And while I don’t get too caught up in the holiday shopping hype, I do like a good sale. And a little retail therapy always helps to calm my post semester anxiety. (I actually do become focused and less agitated when I stroll through Nordstrom’s shoe department.) Except that I don’t have time to hang out in the malls until after the holidays. That’s why I’m one of those people who love receiving gift cards!

However, I’ve recently received emails or heard that so many stores are closing and that the gift cards may be null and void, but I don’t think that’s true. Besides, I can’t hold on to a gift card that long. And should you receive a gift card, don’t sit on it; spend that money, honey! And, if you’re purchasing gift cards, I suppose you could just ask before you buy. In spite of the recent economy, not every retailer is going to hell in a hand basket. And as I understand it, they’re just waiting for you to use those gift cards. Furthermore, there are surveys that show gift cards as being the number one preferred gift, and have been for several years now. Gift cards make it easy for me to shop at my convenience. And if your friends know you well enough, they know what stores or restaurants you like and what gift card to purchase. So, if you're thinking of me, I'm very confident that Starbucks, Macy's, Barnes & Noble, Target, Whole Foods or any of those stores that I tend to shop at will not be going out of business before next Christmas. And I'll be sure to use those gift cards before then.