Day 4: Celebrate Your Successes!

This is right down my alley - I LOVE celebrating things. Just ask my daughter. I celebrate as many holidays as I can organize. I am an ardent Chinese New Year reveler - and I'm not Chinese. (Mark your calendar - it's the Year of the Tiger and it begins on February 14th. If THAT's not a good omen, I don't know what is!!)

(photo by Zsuzsanna Kilian)

I - for the most part - will admit to being a Pollyanna. An optimist. I can't help it. So I thought this challenge would be easy-peesy.

Here's what I had to do:

Part A:

1. List people in my life who deserve awards for the little things they do (list what they do).

2. Then for 3 minutes design awards for them (the wackier the better).

3. For the last 4 minutes, list the things that you have done, big or small, that deserve celebrating. Don't be shy, celebrate yourself.

The first two were easy and fun. I have some great ones. There's the neighbor who is always picking up extra fresh eggs from the 'egg lady' (who comes every other Monday) for me because I keep getting confused on which Monday she comes. That neighbor gets a golden egg in a nest of 5 euro bills.

Then there's the friend who is always calling my bluff, ringing my bell to say, 'Are you sure you're not just trying to make others happy at our own expense?' You guessed it, she gets a golden bell, with a very long handle.

And there are many more...

But the last one, writing about myself and celebrating myself, that was hard. I know there are a lot of things I do that are mind-blowingly boring and I think, "I should get a friggin' award for this!" but now I look back and don't think they are worth celebrating. Not with an award.

And why not?! I am super patient and am always looking for the compromise in a sticky situation. But what kind of award would that look like? I often provide clarification and summaries at meetings, but again - what kind of award would that be? Sadly, this is where my powers of creativity have failed me.

I was recently told that I needed a lot of work on my heart chakra because I am really good at giving, but not receiving. So, I am going to take heed and listen. I am open to receiving comments or suggestions from those of you out there that know me and who would like to present me with an award for something.

I'm open.

And perhaps THAT is the key. The realization may be that I need to practice celebrating myself. I'm obviously not very good at it.

Luckily, there's Part B: Go to the grocery store and buy 5 packages of birthday candles. Use them with wild abandon, for any reason. Find a cause for a birthday candle every one of the 37 days. Patti writes, "I travel with a pack because you just never know when a celebration will break out - and you know that the Girl Scouts say: Be Prepared."

So, I went out and bought those candles. I can't wait to use them. I plan on documenting the various occassions on the blog!