Take a digital stroll through Facebook, through Instagram, through any social media and when it comes to celebration you’ll find a trend that is unalienable, that is unignorable: We’re a society that loves to celebrate a few big life events more than all others. We celebrate birthdays, we celebrate graduations, we celebrate weddings, and we celebrate having babies. Facebook is essentially one long list of people you sorta know celebrating the same few events over, and over, and over. Before I dive into this week’s essay, I just want to preface it with this statement: This is ok. I am all for celebrating these marquee moments, as they are worthy of celebration, and this article is not about discontinuing this, if anything it’s about simply adding to it. Let’s dive in.
As mentioned, we’re damn good in this world about celebrating these moments of what I like to call logical progression. These are the events we fall into because they are what we’re supposed to fall into, the next dot in a cosmic dot-to-dot that we’ve been playing all our lives. We have birthdays each year as we age, we go to school and logically progress (if all goes well) to the next grade, we graduate and we tell ourselves we should probably go to higher education, so we do. We get there, and we meet someone and fall in love, logically then we should propose sometime after graduation (and the parties that follow) and so we pop the question, or respond to it once popped to us. We are married for a period of time and logically think we should have babies next, so we do. There begins the cycle for the next generation. Again, all of this, all of these milestones, are worth celebrating if we’re happy, healthy, and enjoying them. My question is, why aren’t we better at truly celebrating the tiny victories, the minor discoveries, the new beginnings that hide between the highlighted events? My second question is, why don’t we do so now?
I’m petitioning for the celebration of all these miniature moments that go unnoticed and underappreciated. What about the time you quit the job you hated, the catastrophic career shift that only you noticed as most people don’t listen long enough to truly hear what a revelation this can be for you. It takes courage to leave a place of solidity, even if it’s making us rather miserable, starting over is so immensely challenging. Speaking of, what about celebrating a divorce, if it means leaving a marriage that left you unfulfilled, that left you unhappy to the point of contagion, that was constantly undervaluing and redefining love in a negative way? I’ve seen, I’ve been part of, I’ve known this truth, and I think it’s worth celebrating the strength to move forward when all things are holding you back, begging your life to stay the same. How about a celebration of making a new friend, beginning a connection and planting a seed that could grow for the rest of your life? What of throwing a party structured entirely around some astrological or meteorological event? I’d love a party aimed entirely around a thunderstorm, a meteor shower, an eclipse, hell, even a planet being close enough to see at sunset.
I’m here to say we need celebrations and acknowledgements for reaching fitness goals, for paying off student loans or zero balancing your credit card. How about Facebook posts that announce doing something that totally scares you? I think we need parties for getting a raise, and feeling shameless in announcing it, sometimes we have to admit that our hard work paid off. What’s more, I think we absolutely need to normalize the celebration of saying, without guilt or apprehension, the word NO when it’s No that we wish to say, aloud, proud, and not backpedaling or offering a million justifications for doing so. No, dammit, no.
We’re all allowed to live however we wish, you’re allowed to decide how you wish to proceed through the highs and lows of your life, but if you’re here and open for advice, I’ll offer this: Life is short, there’s so much that goes wrong, that can go wrong, that will go wrong, why not take every single excuse to celebrate we can possibly get our tired hands on? Why not show the world that just because you’re not getting married, growing a family, or graduating from a school, there’s still value in all you’re accomplishing too, and that you’re proud to share it.
Bottom line, the world needs more positive reinforcement, especially after the two years we’ve all endured. Let’s begin a new trend, let’s throw confetti into the air for a million new reasons, and let all those see how beautiful it can look. Start now…what are YOU celebrating?
*Also, if I spoke in the podcast about needing, but not having, Intro music or a "theme song” please note, I recorded the audio before I figured out the theme music :) Sorry for the confusion.*
Let’s celebrate more
than logical progression,
open up to more.
Song of the Week
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More Than Logical Progression | 10.3.21