Celebration isn’t self-indulgent, it’s essential
You’re exhausted. You made it to the end of the project or through another challenging yet successful year. At the end, it can be easy to push on to whatever lays ahead or to collapse into vacation or a quiet period. I want to encourage you to take a moment to do something else first, even briefly. Celebrate. There is huge value in arriving and taking stock of the journey you’ve completed. Doing so means looking back and reflecting on where you started and what you’ve accomplished. It’s important to acknowledge the effort, learning, challenges overcome and growth that it took to get here. I know it can feel self-indulgent to slow down and take a step back to reflect on what you’ve accomplished, and I want you to know it’s essential to celebrate to maintain energy for whatever lies ahead in your future.
What are the benefits of celebration?
Why celebrate anyway? Celebrations help you maintain and rejuvenate an optimistic mindset. It can be easy to forget about your wins over time, and negative thinking can take over. Practicing celebration reminds your brain of all the achievements you’ve made. Celebration also increases your intrinsic motivation by connecting with progress from the past to bring you energy in achieving new goals or to keep going to the next stage in your current goals. It allows you to “arrive” at an endpoint before starting a new journey, even if your endpoint is a milestone in a large project or the end of another fabulous year. Celebration helps you learn from how you created success and the challenges you had to overcome. Finally, people who celebrate tend to experience greater well-being, have a more positive outlook and less stress than those who don’t.
How to Celebrate
First and foremost, give yourself permission to celebrate! A celebration can take many forms, and it can take time to learn how if you’re out of practice. Everyone celebrates differently, and it’s important to figure out what works for you. The five languages of appreciation, also known as the five love languages, from Gary Chapman PhD. can be a memorable guide:
Words of Affirmation: Write in a journal about your accomplishments, what you’re proud of, and what you are grateful for.
Physical Touch: Take time to visit with your team, a mentor or other important people in your life and share your wins and shake hands or another appropriate touch.
Receiving Gifts: Treat yourself to a special gift - something that feels like a reward or a marker of your achievement.
Quality Time: Have a celebratory moment with someone else. It could be a dinner, a team meeting or another event with others.
Acts of Service: Give yourself a restful reprieve or spend time paying it forward to someone else. It could be a massage, a weekend where you completely disconnect from work or an afternoon where you volunteer your time mentoring or giving to a community you care about.
I know first-hand the awkwardness that can come up in celebrating. I know it can feel like a waste of time, selfish, or even just silly. I also know from practice that it’s essential to remind yourself of how far you’ve come, and that will propel you forward in anything you take on next. You’ll remember that you can achieve big things over time, even when it feels challenging in the moment.