Have you seen all of these new national holidays being celebrated? I’m even guilty of heading out to get ice cream on National Ice Cream Day. (Although, I am a devout believer that every day is National Coffee Day. Am I right?) But are we forgetting to celebrate some far more important things?

As a homeschool mom, I wanted to add extra fun into our weeks and celebrate unusual (and sometimes silly) holidays when I ran across this blog post. It lists 106 holidays to celebrate that are fun for kids. I even wrote the days out on our homeschool calendar so the kids would get invested in it as well.

This week we celebrated Backwards Day, and boy did the kids get invested. They sat backwards in their seats, walked backwards, even tried to talk backwards. They were dedicated enough to wear their clothes backwards even though we were leaving the house! (And I had to let them considering this whole thing was my big idea!)

Some people celebrate just about everything, but have you thought about what we are forgetting to celebrate? If we are willing to celebrate National Pi Day (March 14th in case you were wondering), then why do we forget to celebrate the things that truly matter? And I’m not talking about Christmas and birthdays…

I’m talking about things that are the core of our souls.

Here are 4 things you may be forgetting to celebrate in your life:

Celebrate small victories.

I’m betting you made some New Year’s Resolutions or goals at the beginning of the year. Now we are a couple months in, and the chances that you’ve actually hit those goals are slim. But you’ve made some progress, right? And yet we jump right over the small progress, waiting for the BIG numbers, the BIG goals, the BIG moments.

We forget to celebrate the small victories. The small moments of quiet when our children are getting along and not making a mess. The small steps that we made in our health by jumping on the elliptical for 20 minutes, even if it wasn’t a big Beach Body workout. The small number of shares our last Facebook post received.

The Bible says, “Don’t despise small beginning.” Everything starts small. Every seed. Every building. Every journey.

Every small victory takes us closer the end goal.

So celebrate it. Throw yourself a little dance party when you hit that first small stepping-stone goal. Reward yourself. Even the small victories deserve it!

Celebrate the right people.

Why do we listen to wrong voices? You know the ones. The people who tell us we can’t. The voices who whisper our faults. The reminders of our every failure.

By going back to those people over and over again, you are celebrating them in a way. You are making their words and their criticisms bigger in your own mind. You’re allowing them a place and a voice that they don’t deserve.

Celebrate the right people in your life. The encouragers. The supporters. The sharers. Tell them how much you appreciate them, how much their words mean to you. Maybe even take the time to send them an encouraging text back or drop a Starbucks by their office on a hard day. Celebrate the right people and show them they mean the most to you.

Celebrate where you’ve been.

I am really good at making plans. I’m really good at looking forward and moving onward. Last year, we took a vacation to Disney World. (Read a major lesson I learned on our trip here.) We walked miles and miles every day. But at the end of day, you know what my kids wanted to do? Look back at the pictures of where we were all day. They wanted to reminisce and talk about all of the fun that we’d had only minutes or hours before.

We forget to do this as adults. We forget to look at all the beautiful moments of our lives and thank God for where He has brought us. The miles and miles of walking through the valley, and the high moments of the awesome rides. Every step of the way, God has kept us in His hands, and we should celebrate not only where we are going, but where we have been.

Celebrate you.

It’s easy to celebrate our kids when they act courageous or bring home amazing grades on a test. We jump and cheer when they score a point in their sport. We brag on our husband when he rocks a business event. We celebrate our best friend’s weight loss or business goals.

But if you’re like me, you feel arrogant if you celebrate yourself too much. If you do more than a simple “thank you,” with a complimentary smile, then you feel braggadocios. And my momma didn’t raise me to be braggadocios. Or is that just me? Here’s the thing…

You are smart. You are strong. You are beautiful. You are worth celebrating. You are worth that little dance you do when you hit that goal. You are worth all the compliments bestowed on you. Why? Not because you’re overly confident. No, you’re worthy because you were carefully crafted by the Lord of all creation. You were made wonderful and beautiful and unique. And He is cheering you on and celebrating you.

Treat yo’self, friend. Do something today to celebrate YOU.

And while you’re at it, celebrate an unusual holiday too. I recommend Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day! It’s coming up soon.

 

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