Education, etc.

It is the time of year when we celebrate the accomplishments of completing an educational journey, when lunches and dinners are had in honor of diplomas and degrees. This is also the time when other people provide unsolicited advice on what the graduates should do with their lives now that they have been educated and released into the wild. I suppose I am no different as I have my own advice to offer the graduating class of 2023. Others may say to not take yourself too seriously, to travel and see the world, to save a portion of your paycheck, and all of that is wonderful advice. In addition to these pearls of wisdom, there is one lesson I have learned that I wish to pass on to those of you who have recently completed a major milestone in your life: learn to celebrate yourself!

I recently watched a mother on a social media platform explain that she does not tell her children that she is proud of them, rather she says, “You should be so proud of yourself!” It seems like a meaningless change, but the slight difference is a big shift in the purpose of success. Teaching your child to have pride in themselves and of their own accomplishments reinforces the purpose of the pride. Their accomplishment should not be to please others, so the pride that is felt in their accomplishment should not be from others but themselves. It is perfectly fine to say that you are proud of them, but it is also important to teach them to have pride in themselves and their successes.

Which leads me to my point of learning to celebrate yourself. There is nothing wrong with letting others celebrate you and your achievements. Likewise, there is nothing wrong with treating yourself to your own celebration. And I don’t mean a singular cupcake, at home, in the dark, with a rom com, all by yourself. Unless that is your version of a celebration, at which point, carry on! At the end of the day, you are the one that put in the work, the time, handled the stress, and crossed the finish line, so be proud of your own success and celebrate yourself however you choose to do so.

There will be times in your life when no one sees your success. If you wait for someone to come along with a tiara and a celebratory vanilla almond cream cheese pound cake with buttercream frosting, you will be greatly disappointed. Trust me. But if you learn to celebrate yourself, it will not matter if anyone else sees your success, because you did, and your pride in yourself will fuel you in your next adventure. In the competitive workforce, little victories make the stressful days tolerable. But you cannot wait for your boss to come by and say, “good job”. They may not be aware that you had a higher sales month than last month, that you found a most cost-effective supplier, or they just may not feel like it is their job to constantly praise and encourage you. Quite frankly, that absolutely is not their job. They have their own goals to meet.

This idea of rewarding your own success is often used in weight loss programs. By setting goals at various stages or, in this case, pounds lost, success is celebrated throughout the journey. These celebrations encourage the individual to continue their journey, to not give up, and incentivizes them to reach for the next goal. When I was a runner, one of my running buddies taught me a similar trick. You concentrate on someone ahead of you that is running slightly slower than you, and you push yourself to run past them. When you pass them, focus on someone else ahead, and repeat the process. When you pass these runners, they are not going to look at you and say, “Hey, good job visualizing your success and passing me.” No, that success is only for you, and it is a great feeling, much more than I thought it would be when my running partner suggested it.

Life is its own race, with its own set of victories, both small and large. You run the race of life for yourself! Therefore, you celebrate those victories for yourself, too. Be proud of your accomplishments. It is wonderful to be celebrated by friends and family, or to have those you work with acknowledge your hard work, but at the end of the day, buy your own tiara, bake your own cake, throw your own party, and celebrate yourself and your accomplishments.

This week, I will be taking my own advice and celebrating myself and my accomplishments by taking photos at the beach in my graduation regalia. I have already had others ask me why. The answer is simple: because I want to! I have earned the right to celebrate myself, and this is how I want to celebrate. I do not need someone else’s approval of how I choose to celebrate. And neither do you!