Welcome to another #selfdiscoverysaturday, a recurring event where I lead you in an exercise so you can get better acquainted with yourself. While this might sound like a funny concept (you might be thinking, “listen lady, I already know who I am), self-discovery is all about appreciating how complex and ever-changing we are – and how really deeply knowing ourselves is a lifelong journey.
This week is all about celebrating accomplishments. Taking time to appreciate our victories is a great way of bolstering our mood and boosting our self-esteem, and celebrating with others can provide a sense of community. As Tony Robbins says, “you can only build on success”. While some of us already have a finely-tuned self-celebration process, this tends to be relegated to big ticket wins – nailing a huge performance, buying a home, and so forth.
But what about the smaller things? Too often we just expect ourselves to get this stuff done without recognizing that even small stuff takes time and effort. The truth is, these small victories are much more common than the big ones, and celebrating these little babies is a great way of flexing our self-appreciation muscle. So let’s keep riding that beautiful sunshine wave of positivity and start the weekend off with a high-vibe exercise of exploring and celebrating our accomplishments.
Celebrating Accomplishments: The Exercise
This exercise can be done anywhere and only takes about ten minutes. So grab a notebook and pen, a laptop, or your phone – whatever helps you to easily and accessibly get your thoughts out of your head and onto the proverbial page. I’ve shared an example of my own below, if you’d like to get your bearings on what this might look like before diving in.
Make a list of ten things you recently accomplished that feel important to you. These can be as big or as small as you’d like, and there are no wrong answers. If you want to write more than ten, go for it!
When you’re done writing the list, re-read it and give yourself a dang high five. You did so many things!
If you feel like sharing, I invite you to share some (or all) of your accomplishments in the comments. Spend some time celebrating the accomplishments of others, too. We’re all in this together, and while this sharing is vulnerable, it also helps us feel seen.
If you have a few extra moments, see if you can identify any themes or patterns in your list of accomplishments. Do you feel particularly proud of stuff you did at work? Are you happy that you were able to show up for yourself by enforcing boundaries? Noticing the things that we deem worthy of celebrating can tell us a lot about the things we value, which can give us clues as to where we should spend more (or less) of our energy.
Celebrating Accomplishments: An Example
I freestyled this list in less than ten minutes, noting things down as they came to mind.
- I made a delicious loaf of bread this week (and I didn’t even eat it all in one sitting)
- I set an important emotional boundary with a loved one, even though it was uncomfortable
- I created this post, even though I didn’t feel super-motivated to do work
- I bought my own domain (for this site) and am teaching myself website maintenance and SEO as I go
- I have meditated every morning this week
- I made the move to Toronto, fulfilling a lifelong dream (this was six years ago, but I’m still in awe)
- I emotionally regulated myself back to a calm baseline after a triggering interaction
- I am pursuing a lifelong dream by actively sharing written content multiple times a week
- I created a TikTok account to share my tarot readings even though TikTok makes me feel real old
- I spent five minutes watching petals fall from a blooming tree just because it was pretty, and I didn’t even get distracted by social media
While most of these seem very small, they are all markers that I am living a life that’s in line with my values, and that is so important to me. When I reviewed my list, I noticed a running theme of accountability in self-care. As someone with a history of disordered internal boundaries (I have a baseline tendency to push myself hard without regard for how I’m actually feeling), being able to consistently show up for myself, to see value in the things that I do, and to tend to my emotional needs are all things that I was not able to do a few years ago. It feels great to see and recognize these things, and to take pride knowing the effort they’ve required, and the sense of empowerment I feel in taking ownership over these wins. High five, self!
Wrapping Up
Whether you write out a list of your own or just peruse mine, I hope you are able to internalize the value of celebrating your own wins. Remember this as you move through your weekend – when you get something done, take a brief pause and just let it sink in. You are the creator of your reality, and you have every right to celebrate the life you’ve made for yourself so far.
Happy Saturday, and happy self-discovery <3