What is a life event and why should we celebrate them? Today, let’s talk about all the opportunities we have to celebrate and how we can take advantage of different ways to celebrate the big and small things that happen to us every day.
Why should we spend more time celebrating life events?
You will often hear me talking about Life Events, whether that is part of my Events side as a Celebrant or Toastmaster, or in my role as a Public Speaking Expert. Many people will assume a Life Event is when someone is born, gets married or dies. But it is so much more.
What is a Life Event?
A Life Event can be anything that happens between birth and death. So this can include a birthday, an anniversary, a graduation, an adoption, fostering, a new job, a promotion, a new career, a qualification, first baby steps, passing a driving test or work exam, getting up after an illness, surviving surgery, learning to cook, learning to walk, helping a friend, and I am so sure that this list can be endless as each religion, culture and way of life will have so many more Life Events to add to this list.
Why do we not Celebrate all of these?
I’m sure the answer to this question will be different for individuals but here are my thoughts from my own experiences and those with family and friends growing up. As a society we are not taught to celebrate the little things. We are taught that only the big achievements matter. But why is that? We all know that we are born and will die so why do we not make every day as part of our journey a Celebration.
Why should you celebrate every day?
Now I am not saying that we need to have a party every day but there is nothing wrong with just taking a moment to pause, smile and congratulate yourself on your achievements. Now if you took a moment to write down all your achievements, I am so sure that you would be smiling as the list is probably longer than you expected it would be.
Taking a moment to celebrate your own achievements both small and big will also help with your own morale. It will make you look at life in a more positive way. In society, there is more of a focus on the not so good things and the negative side of life, so it’s time to take control and live your life by your own rules. This means more celebrating.
What kind of things can you do?
Start by writing down your list of achievements from birth in a new notebook or a spreadsheet. You may have to ask for some help with this but whatever you can write down is a great way to start. Then, think about what you did to celebrate that time, moment or event. It may have been nothing, and at this point this is ok.
The fact is, that now you are writing it down, you are acknowledging and celebrating as I am sure you will be smiling.
I then want you to tell someone about what you have done and share your list with them and now there will be two of you smiling and celebrating.
This chain reaction is also a way to celebrate. Communicate and tell someone. You may think it’s a small achievement and may not want to celebrate but its important that you do it for your own benefit. It really is ok to think of yourself and you should be doing more of it.
Other ways to celebrate can be going for a run, spending time with loved ones, having lunch with friends, cooking your favourite dish, playtime with your children or pets, call or video call a friend or relative, chocolate and cake or even a little tipple of your finest.
How do you continue to do this?
Now that you have started this journey of celebrating the small wins as well as the big, make sure that at the end of each month you add in what you achieved in the previous months, don’t forget to add what you did to celebrate and if you didn’t, do something now. Share this with your friend and maybe both of you could be doing this every month.
If you are a parent, why not share your wins with your children and help them to start doing this now. We all need to get into the habit of celebrating both the small and big achievements, which will over time shine brighter than the negativity in the world.
By celebrating both the small and big achievements, your happiness in life and your own self-pride will increase. You may even find that you want to do more. I would love to hear about both your small and big Life achievements throughout your life and let’s share in the happiness.
You can find out more at www.sonaldave.com and contact me at sonal@sonaldave.com
