Do you remember the last time you celebrated yourself? The last time you truly appreciated yourself and all the effort you put into being YOU every single day? While self-celebration is still a hard-to-grasp concept for most of us, you should always remember to celebrate yourself, even for the smallest wins.
But what does it mean to celebrate yourself? Let’s find out and celebrate YOU!
What is self celebration?
Self-celebration is the conscious effort of celebrating yourself as a person – for who you have become through effort, commitment, dedication and sacrifice. It is about accepting, acknowledging, empowering and encouraging the person you are now. It is about celebrating your achievements and failures and what you have learnt from them. Self-celebration is a sincere and intense acceptance of the self in the present moment. It means you love and cheer for yourself for how far you have come.
You can celebrate yourself whenever and wherever you want for whatever reason you feel right. It can be for a major achievement like getting a promotion or for a minor accomplishment, like getting through a bad day without losing your temper.
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While celebrating yourself may seem superficial or narcissistic from the outside, self-celebration is not about being self-obsessed or bragging about yourself or having an unhealthy coping mechanism. It is about pure self-acceptance and being your own cheerleader. You can celebrate yourself in any way you want as it is about honoring yourself, not about proving anything to anyone else.
7 Ways to celebrate yourself everyday
As we were never taught to celebrate our accomplishments, we are really bad at focusing on ourselves and practicing self-celebration. This is why we are here to help. Here’s how to celebrate yourself every single day –
1. Show yourself some kindness
Stop being so hard on yourself all the time and give yourself the gift of a break. You know you deserve it. Shift your mindset from constantly thinking about the things you should do and just pause for a moment. Tell yourself you are doing the best you can given the challenging times and celebrate yourself by cutting yourself some slack.
Treat yourself with kindness, compassion, thoughtfulness and consideration, especially when you make mistakes or struggling to cope with daily life stressors. Be mindful of your self-talk and give yourself the same empathic and helpful advice you would give your best friend. Be your greatest supporter.
Related: 15 Ways To Be Kind To Yourself (Especially When Feeling Down)
2. Share your achievements
Celebrate yourself by sharing your greatest achievements and minor accomplishments instead of keeping them to yourself. While it is absolutely okay to celebrate your successes by yourself without seeking external validation, sharing your accomplishments with your family, friends and loved ones can make the experience more satisfying, fun, meaningful, fulfilling and rewarding.
So go ahead and share your successes on social media, or text a friend about it or simply call your parents and tell them what you achieved. Be open to inviting others into your life and accepting compliments from them. It’s not about bragging, but about being proud of your efforts and achievements. Celebrating with others can help you celebrate yourself better.
3. Take yourself out on a date
You know how it goes on a date. You wear your best dress, you look gorgeous, you go to a fancy restaurant, maybe a movie, a ride around the city and you come back home happy and content. Now do that with yourself by taking yourself out on a date. That’s how you celebrate yourself in the simplest manner.
Make a reservation at your favorite restaurant, enjoy some really good food, have some wine and enjoy your own company. Or you can just go out to have some ice cream or a whole freaking cake all for yourself (but watch those calories too!). In case you don’t feel like going out, order your favorite food to be delivered at home, while you take a hot bath or some aromatherapy bath. You can even plan a staycation and have a mental health day by taking time off from school or work.
Just be mindful, enjoy the moment and celebrate all that you are. This will help you to practice self-love and increase your self-confidence.
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4. Buy something special for yourself
Is there something you have been planning and saving up to buy for yourself? Then go ahead and buy it. You have thought and planned about it long enough. It’s time you celebrate yourself by giving yourself something nice- something you really want. Whether it is a new dress, shoes, a gadget or even a household item – it’s time to get it. If you want to celebrate yourself then what can be a better way to get started than buying what you want.
You work too hard and too long, so don’t make excuses when rewarding yourself, especially when you have saved up for it. In case you don’t have the finances for it yet, start saving for that luxurious item. However, it doesn’t necessarily have to be something expensive as long as it makes you happy.
Enjoy and revel in having your gift, play with it, have fun. Else what’s the point otherwise? And every time you use it, remind yourself of what you have achieved in life.
5. Unleash your inner child
Stop being so serious all the time and dance carelessly if you want to celebrate yourself. Be needy and demanding for a change. Hug someone. Laugh out loud. Skip around for a bit. Ask stupid questions. Believe in fairy tale endings.
Our inner child is the hidden part of our personality that is filled with positivity, creativity, spontaneity and playfulness. It is also fueled by unrestricted emotions like boldness, anger, wonder, openness and purity. As we grow up we hide these emotions somewhere deep for some reason.
Well, now it’s time to let your inner child out as you prepare for self-celebration. So go crazy and do what you want, go for your dreams, start painting or playing a musical instrument, seek instant gratification, pursue your dreams, and be shameless about it.
Let go of all the things that tie you down and have some silly fun. You can be responsible without taking life seriously all the time. Just let your inner child out and let your imagination run wild.
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6. Write a love letter to yourself
One of the first steps to practicing self-celebration is practicing self-love. And a good way to love yourself is to write yourself a gratitude letter. Note down all your struggles and accomplishments and thank yourself for going through all the challenges life threw your way and still emerging victorious.
However, these achievements don’t need to be monumental. It can be something as small as not quitting your job when you felt so very tired or something major as getting better at controlling your emotions.
Write down all the things you love about yourself and thank yourself for doing the best you could at the given time. Be grateful for having the strength and intelligence to build the life you want and for the things you have. Show yourself some love and gratitude and refer to this letter whenever you feel low.
But it doesn’t have to be boring exercise. Use some fun colorful stationary, make some funny doodles and add tons of cool stickers. Or you can celebrate yourself by writing yourself a gratitude card.
7. Have a self-celebration party
Invite your favorite people over and have a party just to celebrate yourself. In fact you can even celebrate your friends’ and family’s achievements and include them all in your self celebration party. Let everyone know about the theme of the party and you can all celebrate each other’s struggles, successes and growth. This is also a great way to strengthen close and important relationships.
Throwing a party is the best way to celebrate yourself in a big way. You can throw your party after accomplishing a goal, like getting a promotion or to celebrate a friend’s wedding. Or you can host it for no apparent reason. You don’t need any reason to celebrate yourself and you need to wait for achievements to have a good time with your loved ones. Just toast to one another, share and accept compliments and celebrate each other.
Related: 5 Things to Do Instead of Comparing Yourself to Others
20 More things to do to celebrate yourself
Indulge in celebration of self. Here are some more quick tips for celebrating yourself the right way –
8. Give yourself permission to relax and enjoy life
9. Allow yourself to indulge in things you want without feeling guilty about it
10. Dress up and look good for no specific reason, whether at home or when heading out
11. Educate yourself about your personal finances and focus on your savings
12. Practice self-care regularly and have a spa day to treat yourself
13. Add a daily ritual to your life that makes your day better and makes you happy, such as meditation
14. Make a self-love and self-celebration playlist with music and songs that remind of you specific moments in life
15. Keep a journal on your accomplishments and write down 3 things that you feel proud about yourself every night
16. Send yourself a bouquet of flowers to celebrate yourself
17. Spend some time brainstorming and daydreaming about things that you truly want to do
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18. Make a list of not-to-do things that can improve your life, like not texting your ex, not working on weekends, not spending too much time on social media etc
19. Try something new – a new experience, a new cuisine, pursue a new hobby, learn a new skill or play a new sport
20. Be artistic and create something, like drawing or painting or writing a novel, and have fun while doing it
21. Read a good book, watch new movie or show or get a massage to enjoy some down time
22. Exercise, stay healthy and fit to celebrate yourself for years to come
23. Make time to be with your loved ones and express your love and gratitude for them openly
24. Call in sick and take a day off from work then do whatever you want with your day
25. Practice positive self talk to let yourself know how much you appreciate YOU
26. Spend more time with animals, whether with your pet or by visiting your local animal shelter to experience unconditional love
27. Start letting go of things that hold you back in life as a way to learn to celebrate yourself
Why you need to celebrate yourself
Self-celebration is important because it is difficult to celebrate yourself. When we struggle with self-acceptance and self-love it can seriously affect our emotional and mental health, decrease our confidence, self-esteem and sense of self worth. And this lack of self-love poorly reflects in our career, relationships, health and personal life.
While growing up, most of us are told not to brag about our achievements. We are taught that showing off is a bad habit and perhaps this is why we become more self-critical. As we are not used to celebrating ourselves, we constantly focus on what mistakes we are making and how we are screwing things up. This leads to a scarcity mindset and a state of lack.
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When we hide our successes and achievements for fear of being seen as boastful, we tell ourselves no matter what we do, we will never be good enough. Instead of celebrating our efforts, talents and skills, we are taught to hide them. And so when it comes to celebrating ourselves, we are left with conflicting thoughts and a ton of confusion about how to do it.
And this is exactly why you should celebrate yourself right now for the big wins and the small ones. Here are a few reasons to celebrate yourself –
- It helps you get rid of self-doubt
- It boosts your self-esteem and confidence
- It helps you develop an abundance mindset and attract more accomplishments
- It helps to bring your focus back to yourself and be grateful for what you have
- It helps you to inspire and motivate others
That’s why it’s important to celebrate yourself. As they say “Where focus goes, energy flows.” And this energy helps to grow whatever you are focusing on, which in this case is YOU! Celebrating yourself allows you to divert your focus and energy from being spent on negative thoughts to redirecting it to what you want to attract more in life. Self-celebration is a way to let the universe know that you are worth attracting and receiving more blessings.
When nobody celebrates you celebrate yourself
Self-celebration is actually easy. All you need to celebrate yourself are three simple things –
- Mindfulness
- Self-love
- Courage
For most of us, celebrating ourselves is a difficult task and having courage will help us realize that we are worth celebrating. That we are too AWESOME not to be celebrated. It helps us heal and see ourselves as powerful individuals who are capable of achieving greatness in life.
So go ahead and celebrate yourself today.
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