Why Celebrating is Important for Healing
It has always been easier for me to give praise to someone else than to give it to myself.
I was always the person who was just checking boxes and more interested in moving on to the next thing versus taking time to feel the celebration of the moment.
To celebrate myself felt deeply uncomfortable.
When I really started healing my relationship with every aspect of myself, I had to unpack why I was avoiding celebration.
I am so grateful for the people in my life who have sat with me in that discomfort, the coaches that have worked alongside me in supporting those difficult unpacking moments, the therapists that I've worked with, and friends and family who I've also had conversations like this with.
Discover the root feelings that may be holding you back from celebrating yourself.
There are always opportunities to check in and see where we're rushing past the celebration, or where we're perhaps missing out on an opportunity to celebrate ourselves.
You might have a belief that self-celebration is narcissistic or self-indulgent or is more along the lines of bragging or selfish in any way.
First of all, that's really normal.
Second of all, that's an opportunity to get curious about that belief and to challenge that belief a little bit more.
If you're into journaling, this could be a great exercise to bring to your journal of asking yourself some questions:
What is my relationship with celebration?
How do I feel about celebrating myself?
Am I more comfortable with celebrating others?
Does it make me bristle when I think about taking time to pause and celebrate my success?
How do I quantify success?
Do I feel like there are only certain moments of my life worth celebrating?
From there, I want to invite you to carve out moments to celebrate yourself and to also look at where the expectation for celebration is in your own life.
Ideas for things to start celebrating:
For me, when I really started to do this work, personal celebration at first meant I had to achieve something that was prolific or a goal that I had been working towards for a really long time because those were the celebrations that I felt most comfortable with.
If that's where you're at right now too, I’ll offer a shortcut that’s helped tremendously.
When I started to really give myself the opportunity to celebrate the smaller moments in my life, it felt way less complex and complicated than I had thought that it might be.
The smaller moments just started to kind of snowball and add up to a greater, more comfortable feeling for myself overall.
Some suggestions for celebrations that you might look at on a smaller level..
Celebrating taking breaths intentionally throughout the day
Celebrating sitting down and doing a quick meditation
Celebrating getting dressed in clothes that feel really comfortable
Celebrating not reacting right away to that message that I received
Celebrating the list that I am revisiting for myself for today that feels more nourishing
Celebrating eating foods that feel really good for my body today
These are some ideas just to get started, there is no right or wrong way to celebrate.
Ultimately, there is a connection between self-care & celebrating.
This art of self-celebration is really along with the same ideas of self-care.
My philosophy on self-care is much more holistic. I look at this in terms of how we are taking care of ourselves through boundaries, communication, emotional awareness, all of these things, but really caring for ourselves with the intention to feel good so that we can care for those around us.
This is really an invitation to get curious about where you might be able to celebrate more throughout the day. And also an opportunity to pause when you can feel yourself rushing through celebration.
This journey has not been easy, but I will say that practicing intentional celebration has created more joy in my life and a better relationship with myself.
But being able to slowly become more comfortable with celebrating moments of success in my own life has created a deeper relationship with myself, which has made me more comfortable in my own skin, more comfortable with my emotions, more comfortable with my thoughts, and my dreams, and so many things.
It's given me more reason to just pause and get on Team Katelyn.
This is all possible for you too, I promise!
Start today by celebrating something small.
I am proud of you for taking a step towards being on Team You, I am rooting for you!
