Self Love. Self Care. Now, Self Celebration.
I am proud to be a licensed psychotherapist and to share my well-being expertise. I enjoy using my arsenal of life experience coupled with my clinical training to assist people in their day-to-day reality.
We are forever being pressed to strive towards the 'new/next/better,' yet we rarely take the time to pause and honor that today is where it is at, and all we have is right now. Self-Celebration speaks directly to this.
With life being more stressful than ever and affirmations only doing half the work, it is more important than ever to appreciate yourself exactly as you are right now. Be thankful, celebrate your unique story, and give yourself a round of applause for how far you've come.
What is Self-Celebration? Self-Celebration is about taking the time out to celebrate who you are at right now. Not who you want to be in the future or who you wish you were. Self-celebration is learning what you enjoy doing and doing it more often. It is accepting and loving the things about yourself that you don't like and helping you make the lifestyle changes you desire.
Self-Celebration is your private party and can be as personal or public as you need it to be. It is a support tool when you need encouragement and a secret weapon to cheer you on. Self-Celebration is your unique expression of who you are, and it can be whatever you like.
It is NOT a bold, attention-seeking proclamation of your awesomeness, where you go around suggesting that you are superior to others. It is NOT bragging or being egotistical, arrogant, or cruel towards others or an excuse not to try or do things to become better. Neither is it having to prove your worth to someone else or falsely celebrating, for example, by drinking a bottle of wine every night to “celebrate”, when you know you’re drinking because you hate your job.
So many of us are unwilling to celebrate because we are so preoccupied with the process. If that's the case, you might go a lifetime without taking a bow and having a good laugh and smile about all the fantastic things you've done! It took me a long time to realize how important it is to celebrate wins, but after all my experiences, I understand how special it is.
After successfully running a business for almost 20 years I returned to school to finish the undergraduate degree that I started when I was 18 years old. Oops, I forgot to celebrate! This was achieved in person, not online. Which meant that I was almost always the oldest person in the classroom. Oops, I forgot to celebrate! After achieving my undergraduate degree I applied, was accepted, and offered a scholarship to attend graduate school at the University of Maryland School of Social Work. Oops, I forgot to celebrate! I did all of this AFTER raising three children! Oops, I forgot to celebrate! I was on my grind and it never crossed my mind to celebrate my accomplishments along the way to reaching my ultimate goal.
If you look carefully, you’ll discover that there are many things that at this point in your life you have forgotten you accomplished or may have slipped from your mind as you have gotten busy with other activities and the latest goal in front of you. By racing from goal to goal, always looking forward to that next thing, you may never really feel that you achieve success. Taking this time to look back and appreciate your progress, you recognize your achievements and know that your efforts are having an impact.
I even started to make a daily TAH-DA list of everything I accomplished during the day. The results were dope! Looking at past TAH-DA lists helped build motivation and momentum toward taking even more action toward my goals. They also gave me the confidence to accomplish whatever I set out to do.
Knowing now that celebrating your accomplishments is so beneficial to not only your physical well-being but your mental as well. Taking the time out to recognize these significant milestones in your life is truly important and worth the celebration.
Now I’m off to celebrate myself. Hope to see you there!
DISCLAIMER
The information provided within has been chosen, reviewed and/or written to express my opinions. Such opinions should not be used to act as, or replace, professional advice of any kind. Perusal of this site does not make you a client of Holly Ashley & Associates, LLC. The author claims no responsibility to any person or entity for any liability, loss, or damage caused, or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly as a result of the use, application, or interpretation of the information presented herein.
Holly Ashley, LICSW, LCSW-C is a licensed psychotherapist (MD, DC, VA), certified forensic social worker, mental health advocate, and clinical architect of Holly Ashley & Associates. She is resolute in her commitment to the mental and emotional well-being of Black people and communities. Her vision is to become an industry leader in connecting Black people to culturally competent mental healthcare, empowering them to thrive now and for future generations.