Why You Must Celebrate Yourself

Why You Must Celebrate Yourself

Why You Must Celebrate Yourself | Add A Little Self-Love with Jarlin Sung

I launched my blog and business last week. It was great, and it felt good!

It was a lot of work leading up to the launch, but I did it, and I was super proud of myself for the accomplishment…

for about 5 minutes.

The truth is, as soon as I had checked off all the items on my “Launch To-Do List”, I immediately started to compile a new list, a “Post-Launch To-Do List”, with meaty items like “engage in social media marketing”, “learn about search engine optimization”, “create editorial calendar”, etc.

Just making that list gave me a headache.

I was getting a little stressed out, until a friend of mine emailed me, “Congratulations on the launch! What are you doing to celebrate?”

That stopped me dead in my tracks.

Oops, I forgot to celebrate!

I don’t mean celebrate as in throwing a party, although that’s not a bad idea.

To me, celebration has come to mean more than that. It is first and foremost a celebration of myself. It means taking time to recognize and acknowledge what I’ve doneIt is an act of self-love.

Taking the time to acknowledge and celebrate YOUR EFFORTS is an act of self-love. via @jarlinsung #CelebrateYourself http://bit.ly/2myIdmx

I didn’t used to think this way. I used to live a world of achievement without acknowledgement. I never acknowledged or celebrated any of my achievements, no matter how big. I didn’t think taking time to celebrate them was necessary.

After all, I knew what I had accomplished. What more would celebrating add? I viewed celebration as self-congratulatory…something that would make me complacent and not want to achieve more.

Well, I didn’t get complacent. I got tired.

After years of achieving without acknowledgment, in the name of continuous self-improvement and striving for excellence, I was physically and mentally exhausted from constantly chasing after the ever-changing goal post I was setting for myself.

Then I learned the concept of self-acknowledgement, and it literally changed my life.

Having made a conscious effort to practice self-acknowledgement for the last couple of years, I’m now a firm believer in the celebration of self. In fact, I believe it is a crucial skill to develop if you want to give yourself a power boost and propel yourself toward your life goals.

Here are three reasons why you should start celebrating yourself ASAP!

Reason #1 – it recognizes action regardless of results

A client of mine recently showed up to her session a bit depressed. After a prior week of serendipitous events that propelled her speedily toward her goal, she had hit a “slow” week.

“Nothing is happening,” She lamented, “I feel so unaccomplished.”

I knew this wasn’t true. She had taken all sorts of steps that week toward her goal, some of them required summing up courage and facing fears of judgment and failure. But she didn’t feel accomplished, because she hadn’t seen any external results.

This is something we all have a tendency to do. We don’t think “accomplishment” unless we see external results. And we tend to dismiss the seemingly small actions we take, even though they represent a big step internally, whether facing a fear or shifting a mindset.

I asked my client to make a list of every single thing she had done that week, big or small, especially the ones that required courage. She came up with a LONG list, and just like that, she stopped allowing external results determine how proud she felt.

Reason #2 – it allows you to have a say in how you feel 

When you rely on external approval and appreciation as the only form of acknowledgement and recognition, you give up the power of deciding when you feel accomplished.

There’s nothing wrong with external approval and appreciation, but do you need it in order to feel accomplished and worthy?

If yes, try acknowledging yourself. The more you do it, the less you’ll need the external validation. It works!

Reason #3 – it builds momentum, motivation and confidence

Back in the days when I didn’t recognize my achievements, I used to spend hours lamenting how little I had accomplished and how much improvement I needed to make.

Then I started to make a daily TA-DA list, of everything I accomplished during that day. The results were amazing!

I found myself lamenting less and doing more. Looking at past TA-DA lists helped build motivation and momentum toward taking even more action toward my goals. They also gave me the confidence that I could accomplish whatever I set out to do.

Just to set the record straight, there is nothing wrong with setting higher goals, or wanting to grow and expand. In fact, I’m a big believer in all of these things.

But I’d like to invite you to change how you set your goals.

Try looking behind you at how far you’ve come, before you acknowledge how much further you have to go to achieve your goal. Take the time to make your own TA-DA list. And while you write down each item, really allow yourself to feel the sense of pride and accomplishment.

First acknowledge yourself for everything you’ve accomplished, then reach for the stars.

Trust me, you will get to them faster this way.

In what ways can you acknowledge yourself today? What is your favorite way to celebrate yourself?

Share your answers in the comments below!

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