The latter half of January is filled with birthdays, and this year is particularly special because my mum, her brother, and his wife are all turning 50. So, there are a lot of gift arrangements and virtual gatherings going on right now. This has caused me to think about why we celebrate.

We celebrate to show our appreciation to people, share joy, recognise important moments in life, and ultimately to feel good. It’s an uplifting practice and a nice reward for labour, but it’s also underutilised.

Celebration is often confined to the big moments in life; however, I would argue it is something that should occur more in the day-to-day. We often take our smaller achievements for granted, minimising their significance and simply ploughing through life. But taking time to pause, recognise them, and maybe even reward ourselves for a job well done, holds a lot of value.

The Benefits of Celebrating

When we celebrate someone’s birthday, giving them a gift or paying them a tribute, we are trying to convey our appreciation to the person and their role in our life. Similarly, celebrating yourself and your smaller achievements is showing appreciation for the progress you are making and recognising the value of your efforts. It is an acknowledgment that you have something to be proud of, which not only builds confidence but also boosts morale, encouraging you to keep going.

Celebrating the incremental steps also helps keep us focused on the present. By taking time to recognise the significance of small wins we gain a better relationship with the processes leading us to our goals. We see more value in the day-to-day actions, gaining more satisfaction in our work and life.

The act of celebration also helps build our self-assurance and self-love. I, like many others, have the tendency to be overly harsh when casting self-judgment. Acknowledging the significance of the actions we take conditions us to think more highly of ourselves and be kinder. This provides emotional nourishment and is beneficial to our general wellbeing.

A Small Win

On January 8^th, 2020, I asked someone for directions when trying to locate a Ph.D. student to help me with my research. To you, this may seem very insignificant, however, this was a small but mighty achievement for me.

You see, I have a natural aversion to asking for help. More often than not, I will choose to struggle through tough situations rather than request aid. It’s like I believe the achievement is worth more if I do it on my own. It’s a foolish and immature mindset that has led me to wasting hours on tasks that could have been solved in minutes had I requested assistance. So, any day I ask someone for help is a day worth celebrating.

I wrote down what I did in my journal that evening, I told my mum about it and I was walking a little taller, chuffed with myself. Honestly, I still feel a little pride thinking about it today.

Recognising the good in that small act not only put me in a better mood, but it boosted my self-confidence and motivated me in my work.

I could list many more small achievements I’ve celebrated (many to do with sending emails, socialising with others, and general adulting) but honestly, like most people, I still don’t do it enough.

Giving recognition to the big and small achievements in life holds a lot of power. Don’t take yourself for granted, there is always a reason to celebrate. Celebrations can range from simply documenting your win to enjoying a nice treat to having full-blown parties (ideally not during a global pandemic). But regardless of the scale, it is important that you take pride in who you are and what you’ve accomplished.