The quiet favor may have cost more than the visible gift.

Cost is not always visible in what people give. A wrapped present announces itself, while the person who drove two hours, made an awkward phone call on your behalf or covered for you at work has spent something nobody can see and nobody thanks them for at the table. The unshowy help is often the expensive kind.

Think back over a hard patch and count who did the invisible things. Say thank you specifically, naming what it must have taken. And when you help someone quietly yourself, be at peace with the fact that most people will never know what it cost.