Celebrate You: Finding Joy in Your Achievements

Okay, so a few weeks ago, I got to go to a really great day of learning with a group of leaders who lead leaders, we'll say.

And halfway through the day, you know, we had taken in some great content, had some great conversations, done some great activations, but everyone was hitting that mid-afternoon slump, right? It was a rainy day.

We'd been in it and on for hours.

And I turned to a couple of the other women at my table and said something along the lines of, "Gosh, I have just been running for months straight, and I really just need a day for me." And the first of the month was coming up, and we started to get into this conversation about how we'll have these wins in our life, whether they be little or big.

A little win could be cleaning out your closet for fall.

A big win could be getting your master's degree.

But we'll have these wins in our life, and we'll just move on to the next thing.

We don't take time to celebrate.

And earlier this summer, I had an experience that allowed me to really sit down and take stock of my career thus far and connect some dots backwards as, you know, we can only do sometimes, connecting the dots backwards.

And, you know, at the end of that couple-hour experience, I remember feeling just so proud of myself and just so grateful for the journey, right? But so often we're head down in the weeds doing the thing, trying to get to the next thing that we don't take time for ourselves, but we also don't take time to celebrate the good.

So this conversation at the table inspired me to use the first of the month to have a Celebrate Me day.

And man, it feels risky even saying that because I think, especially as women, we are societally cultured to stay small and safe and be humble about who we are and what we've done.

And there's, there's beauty in humility, so don't hear me wrong, please.

I hope you hear the nuance in this.

But I think that blanket advice that I've heard for many, many years about staying humble, it's important, and it does not mean that we cannot also look ourselves in the mirror, take time, and celebrate the amazing things that we have done.

It's not just me, it's you too.

And if you're listening to this and you're thinking, "Oh, well, sure, that's, that's easy to say if you've done what you've done," but I promise you that each and every one of us has things to celebrate, but we have to pause, and we have to look back, and we have to spend some time reflecting.