On Celebrating the Small Things

Look, life is crazy. Most of the time we’re so busy dealing with work, trying to figure out how to eat healthily, get enough sleep, and put out the fires that are constantly popping up that we don’t have the mental bandwidth for too many other things. I’ve been there…heck, I live there most of the time. I’m so busy worrying, stressing, lamenting, and considering all of the worst possible outcomes that I don’t often take the time to celebrate the little things, but today, that changes!

Celebrating the small things can feel inconsequential and therefore not really worth your time. Going on a run and doing a slightly faster mile time than normal doesn’t feel like it’s worth celebrating. Getting through a particularly rough week at work without screaming at your coworkers, family, friends, or random bystanders on the streets can feel like a herculean task, yet we just roll past it without much fanfare. I don’t think this is how it should be!

I’ll morn things from morn(ing) till night! Break the yolk on an egg I’m trying to fry? Despair. Get pickles on the sandwich I specifically ordered without pickles? Dejection. Do the laundry only to drop a single sock into the puddle of water on the laundry room floor? Misery. So, if I’m going to spend the mental energy dealing with all of these tiny failures, you bet your ass I’m going to start spending the mental energy celebrating all of the tiny victories!

Working in a creative field or really any kind of freelance job entails lots of trying, lots of grinding, and lots of shooting your shot in the hope of one of those big victories that sends you to the grocery store to buy a moderately priced bottle of champagne. Those wins are few and far between…because if they were easy, everyone would do it. But, that doesn’t make it any easier. So as a remedy for this drought of good news, I’m building an oasis of my own creation filled with celebration for the little things.

I pull into a parking lot that is completely full and just happen to find the one open spot that everyone is hunting for? Ecstasy. I pick out the Tupperware container that just barely fits all of the leftovers? Delight. I have a day where I knock out all the stuff on my to-do list without getting distracted only to realize how manageable my work is when I don’t spend four hours procrastinating? Elation!

Life is hard, and it feels especially hard these days when everything is expensive, most places are cold and wet, and the world feels like it’s constantly teetering on the brink of somehow getting even worse. I personally struggle with anxiety over things I can’t control so I’m doing what I can when it comes to the things I can control, and that starts with celebrating the little things. So, the next time you look through my window and you see me dancing like I just scored the Super Bowl-winning touchdown, I probably just cooked the perfect egg.

What about you? What is your favorite little thing to celebrate?