How the Celebrate Yourself Challenge Works
It's disheartening to have all the good things about who we are and what we do go unacknowledged. Too often we reserve celebration for the really big stuff or for when everything is done and perfect.
What if instead you practiced simple ways to value yourself, recognize your efforts, and encourage yourself along the way?
That's why I put together a free 10-day Celebrate Yourself Challenge.
During the challenge we'll experiment with ways to bring more celebration into our day-to-day lives so we can show ourselves appreciation and encouragement in a way that feels authentic.
We'll use celebration as a way to practice being with with ourselves in the fullness of what we're actually experiencing in our lives—the joyful, the difficult, and everything inbetween.
When you’re done with this challenge, you’ll know more about what keeps you from celebrating, how regular celebration benefits you in your daily life, and what feels like authentic celebration for you.
Before the challenge, I thought of celebrations as big deals and reserved only for special occasions or when something was completed and close to perfect. Now, after participating in the Celebrate Yourself Challenge, I find "excuses" to celebrate throughout the day; it's uplifting and motivating! I also make sure that I'm celebrating others for things, big or small, too. I'd recommend this challenge to anyone who needs a pick me up in life or help in finding a pathway to changing their perspective about what they and others are accomplishing.
—Wendy L.
I've grown jaded in recent years about how people seem to only want to (or feel obligated to!) celebrate when someone's checking off a box on the list of expected accomplishments: marriage, growing a family, career advancement, etc. Through the challenge, I grew to appreciate that I can always find small ways to celebrate myself, and that sharing my celebration with others can be a subtle way to push back against those expected/obligatory ways we celebrate in our culture. I would recommend the challenge to anyone who feels like they aren't worth celebrating, or who feel they don't get enough recognition from themselves or others about how they show up in the world.
—Ashley
Before the challenge, I didn't really celebrate myself, and when I did I felt that I was being prideful and would worry that it wasn't an okay thing to do. I see now that celebration is an important part of life and that it can help me to show up fully in my relationships. It doesn't take away from my celebration of others, but instead helps me to be in a place where I'm more fully able to appreciate others because I'm recognizing and celebrating myself. I appreciated that the challenge prompts were always pretty simple to complete, and not too time consuming, but they were still profound. I really benefited from the community aspect of the Facebook group.
—Allie
It used to feel like whenever I finished a goal, there was always another one waiting in the wings, no time to pause, keep going. I've learned that celebrating is something that can happen anytime, and doesn't have to look like one big thing (or like anyone else thinks!) It can be as simple as taking the afternoon off, or five minutes to enjoy coffee without a call interruption. I'd recommend this challenge to anyone who struggles with finding the joy in day to day life.
—Jessica
I enjoyed this challenge and how it was presented. This is a subject I didn't realize I needed! Before the challenge, I didn’t look at the process, just the big picture. I would complete a project, etc and then celebrate if I was happy about the result. Through the challenge I learned to enjoy and celebrate the process. I don't feel selfish, but am proud and happy with me!
—KFJohnson
Celebrating myself felt selfish, in a way. There was very little of it in my life out of fear of looking self-aggrandizing. Through the challenge I realized that celebration is actually self-care. It is positive, not negative. Now I'm noticing things daily to celebrate. I would recommend this challenge to anyone. We all could do with more celebration in our lives.
—Laura
I definitely had a part that doesn’t think anything I do is celebration worthy—I still have it but also have leaned in to doing it anyway and flexing that celebration of myself muscle. I like the idea of celebration as a daily—very simple—practice. This challenge reminded me to practice it, and really feel it. I would recommend the Celebrate Yourself challenge to folks who just don’t like the idea of celebrating themselves because they think they are unworthy of celebration—what they do doesn’t amount to a hill of beans. The challenge provided accountability and the camaraderie of celebrating with others and supporting others. The support and cheerleading from Johanna was amazing and very thoughtful.
—Participant
In the past, I tended to concentrate on what I had to do or what I was doing that could be better. Through the challenge I learned to celebrate myself no matter how small my behaviors, thoughts, or actions are. It is important to take the time for ourselves to realize that what we do and how we feel needs to be recognized and be aware of our actions and thoughts.
—Kelly