The Epic Guide to Celebrating the Shit Out of Your Small Wins
I talk a lot about celebrating the shit out of your small wins. I mean a lot. Celebrating your small wins helps you to propel you to doing things you thought you wouldn’t be able to, helps you to take a chance on yourself and helps you to find new opportunities. It’s also the difference between starting to work towards your dreams and staying stuck because everything feels so scary.
But one thing I haven’t spoken much about is how to celebrate the shit out of your small wins. And it’s about time that happened!
We’re unconventional folk around here, and the traditional ways of doing things don’t always work or sound appealing.
For most people, celebrating something fits into a specific narrow category and involves one or more of the following:
Going out for a meal
Buying yourself or someone else buying you something luxurious/more expensive than normal
Going out for drinks
An all-nighter that you can’t quite remember in the morning
A party
Inviting a bunch of people over
And there’s one thing that most of those things have in common - they typically involve either celebrating someone else’s achievements and the decision to celebrate is made by someone else.
And those are okay for some things. But they don't really fit with celebrating the small things.
And you know what I’m going to say, right?
Fuck that shit.
That’s not how we do it around here. Because it is perfectly legitimate to celebrate yourself. It’s perfectly legitimate to plan how you’re going to celebrate, and not just reserve the party poppers (metaphorical or real) for big events.
So I want to start by sharing my three truths when it comes to celebrating the shit out of your small wins:
1. Celebrating alone doesn’t make you a loser
Far from it. Sometimes we need the solitude to really reflect and be proud of ourselves. Sometimes when we share our small wins with others, we don’t get the reaction we’d love and the bubble pops or we have no one around us who would get it. So celebrating by yourself doesn’t make you a loser. What it does mean is that you have faith in yourself and you value yourself enough to celebrate. That’s epic shit right there.
2. Nothing is too small to be celebrated
Life is a strange thing. Sometimes you’ll achieve things you never thought you could and other days, getting out of bed and having a shower will be something you’re really fucking proud of.
3. Celebrating yourself is revolutionary, not conceited
If you’re having any thoughts that this sounds really conceited, I kindly ask you to leave them at the door for now. It’s not about being arrogant or being too big for your boots (or boobs as I nearly typed). Instead it’s about recognising that life is hard, that you have your own back and you’re a pretty incredible person with a combination of skills, strengths and abilities unique to you.
So now that we’ve busted those myths, let’s talk about the most important bit. (Or the duh! moment).
With the risk of sounding like I’m running an AA meeting, the most essential thing when it comes to celebrating the shit out of your small wins is to actually acknowledge them.
I know what you’re thinking I know this Meg, get a move on.
But let’s just stay here for a couple of seconds longer. It’s not as obvious as it sounds.
We spend so much of our lives on autopilot and see what we need to do as these huge tasks. It’s rare that we actually break things into manageable chunks and small things. And when we do, the focus is on getting them done and moving on to the next thing. Not celebrating them.
Think about these two things.
What was the last thing you celebrated?
When was the last time you celebrated yourself?
See my point?
We go around doing all of these things, thinking about what’s left to do and how far behind we are. We rarely stop to acknowledge just how much we do, or how much guts it often takes.
And on days where we’re not feeling it, or we’re stressed, or if we deal with pain on a regular basis, we don’t really stop to celebrate the things that feel impossible.
Like deciding to give something another try. Leaving the house when we feel we really can’t. Getting out of bed when depression kicks in. Deciding that enough is enough and we need to rest.
So step number 1, is acknowledging every you do and that small wins happen all the time.
Step 2 is celebrating the shit out of those small wins.
So for those of you who were waiting for a list of things you can do to celebrate the shit out of your small wins, here it is!
Some of these things might seem small. They might not be as epic as you might have wanted them to be. But there’s a reason for that.
So many of us struggle to make time for the things we love. We feel like we have to justify doing something nice for ourselves. It might not seem like the world’s grandest list, but have a look at the list and work out when the last time you did some of them were.
You might be surprised.
And I think there really is something to be said about trying something new as a way of celebrating the shit out of your small wins.
While you’re riding on that wave of feeling good about yourself, use it to expand your comfort zone a bit more. Use your faith in yourself to propel yourself.
There is one thing I’ve missed off that list.
And that is to do nothing, just bask in it.
Sit with it, feel proud and give yourself some space to do nothing.
Because there are so many things you do in your life that you don’t stop to think about. There are so many small accomplishments that we make that we pass off like they’re nothing.
But they’re not nothing.
They’re something.
And if we’re looking at the big picture of our lives, they’re a pretty big fucking something.
All of those small things you do? They add up. And the small steps you take towards doing something that scares you, that light you up, that move you closer towards your dream?
They really are the huge ones. And you’re pretty fucking brave.
So find something to celebrate right now (because there’s something that needs celebrating right this minute), and celebrate the shit out of it.
26 Ways-to-Celebrate-the-Shit-out-of-your-small-wins
I'd love to know any ways you celebrate your small wins! Let me know in the comments below!