It’s Time to Celebrate

If your first thought is that you don’t have anything to celebrate, this message is for you. I’m going to break down the colossal benefits you can see when you find reasons to celebrate, and exactly how to start doing it. If you want to live a happier life while getting better results, read on.

What will this do for me?

Do you spend a lot of time lamenting the things that have gone wrong? Do you dwell on things that you could have done differently, or things that are out of your control? How much of your day do you spend in these unresourceful states? 

Yes, it’s important to admit your faults. Be honest with yourself about what you could do better, and then go do better. Move on, bring the lesson with you, and leave the guilt behind. 

If you take the time each day to get yourself into a more positive mindset, I guarantee you’ll start seeing better results in your life. When you’re focused on what you’ve been doing well, you can really lean into your strengths. You’ll start to build momentum and confidence. 

Our brains are wired to look for threats. It’s one of the things that has kept us alive as a species. And when you’re fed and sheltered and clean, your brain has to look harder and harder to find things that are threatening. So it lowers the bar. Suddenly Karen’s snarky comment at work is a big deal because it’s the most upsetting thing that’s happened all day. 

But we can overcome those patterns of thought. Instead of letting our brains run wild looking for danger and things to be angry at, or scared of, we can make other choices. We can shift our focus to the positive. 

You will always find what you’re looking for. Your brain wants to look for the bad, but you don’t have to keep doing that if it’s not serving you. You can start looking for the good. And you’ll find it.

And when you do, your life will get a whole lot easier. If you start off the day thinking about everything good that’s going on, you won’t be as bothered when challenges arise. And they will.

Life isn’t always fun, and there’s nothing any of us can do to escape that fact. But if you’re able to build the habit of seeing what’s going well, and what you’re doing right, then you can find opportunity in every obstacle. You can find reasons to keep moving forward in the moments that make you feel like giving up. 

So how can we find reasons to celebrate? 

First of all, lower your standards. Most of us have no problem celebrating special occasions. The big steps forward. If you got the promotion you’d been workings towards, of course you’d celebrate. 

But if that’s all you celebrate, then you’re not going to feel very good the other 99% of the time. At best you’re neutral, and at worst you’re actively upset about your circumstances. 

So look harder for reasons to celebrate. Did you get out of bed this morning, even if you didn’t want to? Good for you! That can be a really hard thing to do. Did you wash your dishes after you ate? Maybe not. Did you at least take them to the sink? Maybe not even that. Did you at least feed yourself? If so, that’s a win! And sometimes, small wins are all we have. So we have to cherish them. Celebrate them. They are important. 

It’s the little things you do on a daily basis that build the life you’re living. If you do a few things right, give yourself credit for that. You’ll start to feel better. And when you start to build confidence in yourself, you suddenly have a foundation on which you can start to expand and do even better. 

If you’re not convinced yet, let’s zoom out further. No matter how hard the day is, you have a lot more than you think. If you woke up this morning, and your loved ones woke up this morning, it’s a good fucking day.

I look around myself and there’s so much that I’m grateful for. I have a roof over my head. I have food in my fridge. I have easy access to safe drinking water, something that about 2,000,000,000 people in the world don’t have. Two billion people. A quarter of the world. Let that sink in.

If you’re still not seeing anything worth celebrating, then take this opportunity to create something to celebrate. Take two minutes to work on something you’ve been putting off, or even just relax and give yourself a break. Do one good thing, and then give yourself permission to celebrate it. 

If you’re not where you want to be, that’s okay. You can always keep moving forward. It’s never too late. Just please try to remember that you’re doing better than you think. 

It’s not always easy, but it will always be worth it. 

Look for the wins. 

What win am I celebrating this week? 

I’m writing this article. I’m sharing one of the things that has helped me most on the journey to being happy with who and where I am. I want to do everything I can to make the world a better place. And I believe that starts with happier people. If I can help even one person out there with my words, there’s no telling how far those effects could ripple out into the world. 

I see a world where we all have empathy for those around us, instead of living in competition with each other. Fear and anger sell newspapers, and they get people to the polls. But putting someone else down doesn’t lift you up. Life is not a zero sum game. And the more people who start to believe as I believe, the more we can work together to create a better world for ourselves, our loved ones, and everyone else in it. 

Most people aren’t happy. Don’t be most people.