Finding Reasons To Celebrate

  How often do you celebrate? What do you consider celebration worthy? Are you an individual who waits until a significant event to pull out the nice dishes or have you considered the fact it is important to celebrate because it is a random day? I believe that far too many of us put off true celebrations. We walk through our ordinary days and forget the significance of being. I will openly admit that despite my experience with end of life care that I have allowed days to slip through my fingers. Sadly, that time can never be retrieved. Over the past year, I’ve been participating in Emily’s 12 Months of Bliss Challenge. Each month she posted a prompt (or challenge) to focus upon with the hopes it would increase self awareness and possibly improve happiness. As we end the year that has gone too quickly, the focus of the month of May was to celebrate. Honestly, much of this month was a struggle for me. Thus, having the emphasis to focus on celebrating was significant to me. [tweetthis twitter_handles=”@how2makealife”]Sometimes you have to celebrate when you don’t feel like. And that is what I did.[/tweetthis] Here are a few examples of what and how I celebrated  (even when I didn’t want to) during the month of May. Although not painful, Mother’s Day weekend is a time I truly wish I didn’t have to do anything. It was difficult buying flowers for my Mother–in-law and Grandmother-in-Law. I so appreciate these two ladies but emphasizing them also emphasized what I did not have. I turned this experience around by being grateful that I had people to celebrate and that these two ladies helped create the wonderful man I am married to. The weather throughout the month of May has been unseasonably cold and gloomy. We had almost met our monthly average of rain before the middle of the month. Days have been gray and I was still wearing sweaters. As a result, on those rare days when the sun came, I soaked it up by sitting on my patio, putting the sunroof back and simply taking a deep breath. For several weeks, I’ve also battled severe pain in my lower back and hip. After weeks of constant rehab stretching and adjusting my workout, I am no longer hurting like I was. There is nothing like making one appreciate what the human body does until it no longer does what it is suppose to. (Trust me that one doesn’t realize how often they bend down daily until they struggle.) Even during those days of pain, I celebrated the fact that my pain wasn’t debilitating. It’s important to note there were many things to celebrate simply because.

• The Kentucky Derby is a statewide holiday in Kentucky. I love that our state stops to party and celebrate. If one isn’t at Churchill Downs, you can bet they are at a party. We celebrated with the Bourbon Society and I enjoyed several handcrafted mint juleps.
• Many of my former coworkers came together to celebrate the retirement of a counselor. I am forever grateful that I have a connection and relationship with these women. (In all honesty, we never need a reason to celebrate.)
• From a professional perspective, I should note that I always celebrate days full of clients who show.  I am fortunate that I have a scheduled that is booked many weeks out. I do not take for granted having clients show up and I am always humbled when clients from out of town make the decision to come see me.

Just as we state there is always something to be grateful for, I also believe there is always something to celebrate. We need to celebrate our health, celebrate our friendships and celebrate the small moments that make up our days. I will miss Emily’s monthly prompts but my hope is to continue focusing upon ways to improve daily life.

Are you able to celebrate even when you don’t feel like it? 

]]>