Celebrate Yourself!

As we come upon the start of a new year, it is often a time of reflection and celebration. A time when people look back on the year and assess what they have accomplished or what they haven’t. This can be a particularly tricky topic for those that have faced a lot of adversity throughout the year. You might have had great intentions, but due to things outside of your control you didn’t reach those goals or you had to refocus your energy for survival. Even if all you did was survive this year, you still have value and so much worth. Plus there are likely things that you have accomplished that you are not giving yourself credit for. You deserve to celebrate yourself and be proud of your accomplishments.

Recognizing Your Success

It can be challenging to recognize all the awesome things you have done. This is especially true if you are not where you want to be. It is so important to know that these changes take time and you will get there. As you are on the journey of healing, illness, or other big changes, it is important to look at where you are compared to where you started. You may have a large flare or hurtle that set you back. But there are still positive things that could have happened.

In order to begin recognizing my successes and to celebrate the little victories I have been journaling and creating lists of ways that I have changed or positive things I have done. Here are a few of the examples I have written.

• I filed a DV and SA report on my ex-husband with the police (even though I didn’t press charges, this is still a huge step)
• I have stayed no-contact via all platforms with my ex-husband for the past 2 1/2 years
• I am no longer scared of going out in public
• I was brave enough to start dating again
• I made it through multiple surgical procedures and therapies along my chronic illness journey

These and so many other things are wins. And I deserve to be proud of them and celebrate them.

Celebrate Your Wins

So many times we are waiting to reach our incredibly large goal before we celebrate. Obviously this large goal is deserving of a huge celebration once accomplished, but there are steps along the way that are huge that deserve it as well. What does it look like to celebrate your wins? It doesn’t have to be a party or incredibly expense.

It might look like:

• Giving yourself a break and getting some rest.
• Spending time with those you have fun with
• Getting a special treat
• Doing something you enjoy

No matter what you do, the biggest key is the intention behind it. Doing it with the mental thought process of celebrating yourself. Reminding yourself that you deserve this moment. You deserve to enjoy things. To have fun. To have a little break from everything else that is going on in life. You deserve to feel your value and worth. It brings about a stronger sense of self-confidence and respect for yourself. You don’t need to beat yourself up, you need to lift yourself up.