It was a haunting question…

This last summer I went to an event where an extremely gifted speaker was testing out some content.  She is a marathon runner and part of her talk was around her experiences with the marathons she had completed.  I had to ask her.  I couldn’t help myself.  Did you celebrate crossing the finish line?

She looked back at me with a blank stare…

What do you mean, celebrate?  I pushed.  Did you celebrate the fact that you propelled yourself 26.2 miles under your own power and crossed the finish line?  Her answer was one that resonated heavily with me.  No, I just moved on to the next thing.  I pushed further.  You mean to tell me that you trained meticulously for months, being disciplined in diet, training, tempo, habits, and many other things.  And then you executed the very thing you have been training for.  And you didn’t celebrate?!?

Yep.  Sounds about right.

My heart sank.  Because I could relate.  In my days of triathlon, marathon, and ridiculous endurance events, I did the same.  The training was never a problem.  The execution was never the problem.  Thoughts about the next event were never the problem.  Celebration was the problem.  As in I didn’t.

And I had to figure out why…

Why didn’t I celebrate my accomplishments?  What wasn’t good enough about what I had accomplished that it deserved a little WOOHOO?  A little time to pause and reflect and celebrate? Is it really worth all the effort to pursue our goals and dreams if we aren’t going to celebrate when we get there?

I don’t know about you…

But I love birthday parties for kids.  I love the parties for my nieces and nephews.  Why?  Because we celebrate. We gather together.  We experience JOY.  Share a meal or some cake.  Save the extra frosting for me!  Isn’t that a strange request from a dentist?  I freaking love frosting.  One of my vices.

In this second half of my life…

I want to be better at celebrating.  I want to help others celebrate their accomplishments.  One of my huge goals is to help others plot a course in life so that they can get to celebration moments.  Because those moments get us out of the mundane and drag of life.  They help us get out of the rut!

On Thursday I had a chance to celebrate…

I went to a Rising Tides connection event.  If you don’t know Lisa Even, get to know her.  And start with her fantastic book, Joy Is My Job.  She is all about creating good ripple effect.  After the conference, Amy and I stuck around to celebrate the launch of her book.  It was a celebration!  It was a party.  And it should be!  She poured her heart and soul into this project and it needs to be celebrated!  I am so proud of her.  It really is a fantastic book.  You can apply the principles immediately!

The point of this is that we celebrated…

And you don’t need to wait until a book launch to celebrate!  Celebrate getting to the weekend.  Celebrate an anniversary.  How about a milestone?  What about a goal you had set?  I want to challenge you this week.  What is one thing that you can celebrate?  Think of your journey and how far you have come.  Think of something you accomplished that fell by the wayside as you continued with life.

The science of celebration is off the charts…

I truly challenge you to celebrate one thing this week.  And don’t overthink it.  Going to grab ice cream with someone else counts as celebration.  Even if you simply celebrate having a great friend or the fact that you are alive for another day.  And then find something else next week.  Find someone else to celebrate.  Do this enough and people will find ways to celebrate you!

Celebration is one of life’s simple pleasures…

And if you need a few more ideas of simple pleasures to help grab some wins in this life, check out these great ideas.  And share a celebration with someone else.  Lisa is right.  A rising tide lifts all ships.  And we are all in this together!