We live in a fast-paced world that is governed by setting goals and achieving them. We are taught that “accomplishment” means getting as much done in a day as you possibly can. However, too many of us don’t take the time to reflect on our accomplishments. We have changed from human beings to human doings! THIS MUST STOP!!!!! This is your season. Celebrate who you are and who you are becoming.
When was the last time that you stopped and took a moment to celebrate and reward yourself?
Now without further ado, I want to give you a moment to reflect on your accomplishments.
What is that one thing you have accomplished in your life this year that makes you proud. This could be something grand like building an arcade, hitting your first billion etc or it could be something as great as being able to keep food on your table through your hard work, or simply being able to keep waking up and showing up despite the challenges!!! What is it that makes you really proud?
Are you struggling to see the great person that you are and to find something to celebrate about your self? Do you find that you struggle to appreciate yourself and to celebrate your accomplishments? You are not alone!
Do you ever get the feeling that life is just one big wheel of goals and to do lists?
You throw yourself into a project, promising to reward yourself when you’re done – OHH I’ll sleep for a day! I’ll take a break! I’ll visit my mother and just be present withher! — and, instead, you immediately dive into the next project? In fact, you become restless if you are not on a project at any moment!
By not celebrating, yourself, you are not only missing out on rewarding yourself for your hard work, you are also missing out on an important opportunity to reflect and recharge your creative battery which, if you’re like me, is really the fuel that keeps you going.
When I realized this, I started taking a little time to intentionally celebrate myself. And not just the big stuff! I celebrate anything that made me proud and gave me that inner satisfaction: keeping in touch with my daughters who live far, exercising four times a week, getting healthy meals on the table everyday of the week, keeping on a spiritual journey, reading and finishing a book, getting a new client, speaking up when I feel I should and listening when I should keep my mouth shut (rather hard)– all call for celebration.
This practice has had a great impact on my life. I’m more productive, less stressed and I’m more confident and sure of who I’m than I’ve ever been.
Why is it Important?
1.You deserve It!
While it is important to celebrate the things you accomplish daily, you actually don’t need a reason or something you have done to celebrate yourself. Instead, celebrate you for being you- you are enough!
In the words of Meredith Grey, “At the end of the day, the fact that we are still standing is reason to celebrate.”
Don’t wait until you’ve reached your goals to be proud of yourself. Celebrate every step along the way.
As Jelly said, “It’s the little things that make life big.”
This may sound clique but ‘What if one day you look back and realize that the small things were really the big things?’
Clearly, life isn’t a soap opera. We don’t fly on a private from one super holiday in Hawaii to find a surprise party at our beach house since it’s our birthday week- only for our boyfriend to show up with our favorite band and pop the question!
Neither do we get our top goals accomplished daily.
When these things happen to us, we shall celebrate them. As for me, until further notice, I’ll celebrate micro wins and allow every day to bring its magic and engulf me in its little joys! If we take a moment to look, there a far too many moments in our lives that we should be living in celebration mode.
If you are constantly doing and not being, you will miss out on all the beautiful moments in life. Oftentimes, we take life too seriously and we become so attached to the final outcome that we forget to enjoy the journey. No wonder we miss out on enjoying time with our toddlers because we have to work hard for them so that we can send them to expensive schools. That’s not what life was meant be- we get our babies so we can enjoy being family. Then we can send them out to face the world when they are grounded and know who they are. Yet we focus on the final goal and miss the journey which in the end effects the final goal-who they become.
It’s great to be ambitious; however the key is to develop a mindset that allows you to pursue big things in life, without sacrificing the small things that make life worth living.
2. It’s a healthy practice
Gratitude is the key to living a happy and fulfilled life. It is one of the greatest gifts that we can give to ourselves. Celebrating yourself means taking the time to be genuinely be grateful for your life. Celebrating your life every day is a way to develop an attitude of gratitude that can shift your entire perspective on life. Take a moment every day, stop what you are doing, celebrate, and savour the moment. Life is not a race. When you learn to find joy in the journey, the destination becomes all the more worthwhile. In the words of Oprah Winfrey, “The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.” The world is waiting for a cue from you. If you don’t celebrate yourself, who will?
3. It will boosts your Confidence
Many of us have limiting beliefs about ourselves in at least one area of our lives, which results in a decrease in confidence. The more that you celebrate yourself, the more your confidence raises. When you do so, you are telling the Universe that you are unstoppable, which in turn, attracts more positive energy into your life. Not only that, but when you radiate confidence, it inspires others to be confident as well. Don’t ever hold back. Be proud of who you are and what you have accomplished. You step into your power when you are able to master this.
4. Its not being selfish
In most cultures especially in Africa, we learn to celebrate everything and anything else: The birth of a neighbor’s baby, your family member’s wedding, Christmas, that job promotion, or that or that house that you just built and are inviting friends for a house warming mbuzi. These are good things but could you be forgetting to celebrate the one person that deserves it the most: you. You, without a doubt, deserve to be celebrated every single day. Life can be hard, and while it’s considered normal to push yourself to the max and to put others before yourself, it can be easy to forget that you need some loving, too. The sea of stress and work can really wipe someone out, and during those times, that’s when you need to learn to love yourself the most. When you don’t give it to yourself, you end up having unrealistic expectations of other people which will ultimately affect your relationships.
When should you celebrate yourself?
Any time! However if you want to make it easy for you to keep track so you don’t forget and to establish a pattern especially as you form this harbit, the following may be good pointer for how often and when it’s time to hit the celebrate button.
• Look at your daily accomplishments
• Focus on your achievements
• Be grateful for everything in your life
• Have physical rewards for things you have done well
• Look at your inner strengths
• Identify ways you are accomplishing your purpose
• Find joy with the best moments of your day
• See what goals you have achieved
As you begin your journey of learning to celebrate yourself, I want to invite you to;
Reconsider your Nortion of Success
Success can encompass many things, whether it be: health, wealth, relationships or the simplest things. You get to decide what constitutes success, so it’s best to find your own definition and abide by it. Don’t be swayed by other people’s opinions because that will give you the impression you are unsuccessful. Does that make you feel better knowing you needn’t compete against others? I sure hope so.
To celebrate ourselves, we ought to make peace with parts of ourselves we are at war with. Peace means to reconcile negative or unconscious thoughts with the wholeness of who we really are.
Embracing ourselves foremost is central to awakening our greatest potential. To celebrate our own selves means to accept both our negative and positive characteristics. Wholeness is a story about welcoming every part of you while realising you are none of those things in isolation but in their entirety. When combined, they make up the wholeness of who you really are.
If we want the world to celebrate us, we must accept ourselves unconditionally in order to find clarity. You can become a greater version of yourself because if the thought is active within you, its potential to merge into the wholeness of your character will come to life.
Tips on how celebrate yourself
1.Slow down. Give yourself a break!
This is how you recharge after a long day of work. Give yourself a few hours to watch whatever shows you want, take a nap, just to hang with your friends or have quality time with family. By enjoying the little things of everyday life, it will give inspiration for your work and allow you to truly appreciate what you have.
2.Spoil yourself
This could be a pedicure, a facial, a massage, me time, anything you really enjoy as YOU! It could be Ice Cream, a nice lunch out, going for a swim or reading a book. It could also be checking out that perfume. Anything that will make you feel rewarded without breaking a bank!
3.Accept Compliment gracefully.
Celebrate yourself when other people choose to celebrate you. If someone congratulates you or gives you a compliment, don’t be bashful or disagree with what they are saying. ‘Oh stop it, I’ve had this dress for ten years!” Making less what other people see as more about us does not serve anyone! You deserve that compliment, and by saying thank you instead of deflecting the comment, you are allowing yourself to receive it and feel powerful in that moment.
4.Get Dressed Up For No Reason
Whether you are going to your nine-to-five or you are going to do some errands, dress to the nines to feel extra special. By dressing up, it will improve your mood and make you feel better about yourself. Plus, you never know who you will bump into, because somehow the universe always knows when you are in sweats with no makeup on when you are out running errands and you just happen to run into somebody. Dress up to make yourself feel good, though. Forget about everyone else and just wear exactly what you want.
5.Decorate your home!
Don’t wait for anyone else to buy you flowers, they may be long in coming! Just buy yourself the flowers and decorate your home in a way that makes you smile when you walk in. You deserve it, so why not treat yourself? This is the place where you retire with your loved ones at the end of a work day. Make it welcoming, relaxing and homely.
6.Unleash your inner child
Reward yourself with a rare moment of instant gratification. Has there always been an activity you have been dying to try? Dancing? Singing in the local choir? Taking a tour of your town on your own, window shopping? Try it!
7.Have a “celebrate us” gathering
Get a group of friends together to celebrate each other and your friendship. Bring your own favorite dish to share at a potluck or go to a restaurant that has meals you all love. Toast to the importance of close, wonderful relationships.
8.Take A Selfie
While I don’t condone selfie sticks (they are weapons of destruction), I do believe that a selfie can enhance how you feel about yourself. We shouldn’t shame selfies, because if someone posts one on the Internet, it’s because, at that moment, they felt good about themselves and decided to celebrate that — and you should do the same. I don’t normally take a lot of selfies and post them on the Internet, but when I feel particularly fabulous, I will take a few and have them in my phone for the heck of it. I felt good and I looked good, why not celebrate that and take a picture?
Celebrating yourself is one of the best things you can do. It’s a great way to boost your mood and to recharge after a long day. So don’t think twice about it, put that face mask, take that selfie, and get that ice cream cone. You deserve it.
9.Go for a photo shoot
Get a new picture of you taken by a friend with a great camera or even a professional photographer. It could be colorful, or arty and black and white. Smile—you’ll be glad later that you documented this moment in your life.
What are the benefits of celebrating ourselves?
Celebrations Give Meaning –
There’s a reason that traditional cultures have so many rituals and ceremonies — it’s because they mark life’s passages and give it meaning. We have stripped away many of these celebrations from our bigger, better, faster lives and it’s left a big empty hole where meaning used to live. Celebrating ourselves reminds us that our efforts matter; that what we do counts.
Serve as a reminder
Celebrating Reminds Us To Enjoy The Journey — We are so goal focused, so worried about the outcome, that we forget to enjoy the journey. When we stop and acknowledge the steps we have taken along the way, we take the focus away from the outcome and put it back on the doing. It makes us more likely to enjoy our work — not to mention helping to protect us from the disappointment we might feel if we don’t reach our goal or get our intended result.
Celebration Fills Our Need for Approval –
There is a reason we get so focused on the result and that’s because having a final product is the best way to get a little approval — a pat on the back, a little praise, a “good job” thrown our way. As humans we have a basic need for approval: it’s built into our wiring, we want to be recognized for our work. But the truth is that external validation is fleeting and rarely honors us properly anyway. Celebrating ourselves fills this need from the inside, where it really counts.
Celebrating Regularly Increases Your Capacity for Joy –
We spend an awful lot of time beating ourselves up for things we should have done or could have done better — and every time we do we are training our brains to go looking for the bad stuff. But when we take time to regularly celebrate ourselves, we teach our brains to be on the lookout for where we have done things right. It keeps us focused on the positive parts of life and because what we focus on expands, it starts to enhance our sense of happiness and rightness with the world.
Finally, Stop being to hard on yourself
Don’t be too hard on yourself. You’ve done well!
You’ve continued to stand through the storms, you’ve made significant strides in your growth. You not yet where you want to be but you are not where you used to be. You have made mistakes but you have not given up. You fallen but you have kept getting up again! You are so powerful. Embrace yourself. You are making some good choice- even right now just choosing to watch this is an investment in your growth.
You are an awesome person. Take it and own it!