Growing up I was never one to have parties. But, I loved going to them. I was into celebrating but not celebrating myself. Given this is edition 21, it got me thinking about the importance of celebrating ourselves.
My 21st birthday was not actually much of a 21st at all. I had a couple of drinks with a few friends and we went home pretty early (I'm still sure this is a bit odd for a 21st) my parents encouraged me to have a party, they would look after it all. It was a milestone that needed to be celebrated they kept on saying. I just didn't feel the same way.
My brothers were a little different, my older brother would celebrate every opportunity he got. He was full of confidence throughout his younger years, incredible smart and highly functioning as a developing adult. As for my younger brother... well he was a party animal that is still charging on forward to the next party.
This habit - yes I believe it is a habit I formed very young..is something I wanted to change. I had one birthday growing up and I remember feeling so much pressure to invite everyone in my class, but I didn't want everyone in my class to attend. Instead of it being a celebration about me and what I wanted. It ended up being about everyone else and pleasing people. I'm pretty confident this put me off from celebrating most things in life. Seems stupid, but the young developing brain has so many ways of protecting itself and starving off potentially negative situations.
Anyway in the last few years, I have attempted to change this. It started with a dear friend of mine when we were working on the road in some sales job. At the end of the day , he would literally clap himself for a job well done. He celebrated everything! I loved it, it got me excited and pumped up about life.
It started to rub off on me slowly and now I do try to celebrate the small wins along the way and the bigger events.
I still have not got to the stage of having a large massive party, but I think I'm on my way to that happening in the not so distant future.
We need to celebrate as much as we can, be joyful about who we are, our contribution to ourselves and the world. We literally defy odds just being born and alive today.... that is purely mind blowing, I think we should be celebrating ourselves everyday just for that. Here is a great infographic that explains it.
