“Once you realize that you don’t need a special occasion to buy a cake, the second part of our life begins.”
~ Anonymous
May. A month of happy events.
Mother’s Day.
My husband’s birthday.
My birthday. Yes…a big one this year!
My business launch anniversary. Beginning year 7!
Prior to the pandemic, the plan was to spend the last ½ of May in Croatia. Lots to celebrate. Much to be thankful for. I have always loved hallmarking the passing of milestones and life-cycle events with travel and discovery, creating legacy and memories with family. Travel is a gift I give to myself.
As I contemplate the month ahead, what I have come to realize is that along with the flux and serendipity in the world at large, there are new opportunities to change up how I celebrate, based largely on understanding the essence of what that celebration itself stands for. What it stands for is gratitude. What it enables is clarity in regard to success.
- I am thankful that I could plan a 2-week trip with my family to Croatia.
- I am thankful that my two children at age 20 and 25 were part of this.
- I am thankful that I am their mom.
- I am thankful that I designed a business doing what I love virtually.
- I am thankful for my clients and business community and for their support.
- I am thankful that I designed a life I love. That I chose it. Customized for me.
- I am thankful that I am healthy and that my family is as well.
- I am thankful that I have a house and space in which to shelter in place.
- I am thankful that the 4 of us have been able to do so together.
- I am thankful that I have these milestones to celebrate in the first place.
Not every woman is a mother. Not everyone reaches age 60. Not everyone survives and thrives 6 years as an entrepreneur! Not everyone has celebrated 34 birthdays (actually 36) with their spouse. Not everyone has traveled all over the world.
So, although gratitude cannot replace my trip, the amazing celebration dinners, the time with extended networks spent in person, it CAN be a gift all in of itself. Taking the time to make thanks a part of the successes, makes success sweeter and more organic. Appreciation is a skill set that we all need to activate, harness, and utilize daily. It is our biggest and best tool to navigate a world that is changing and our place within it.
The essence of celebration is being able to understand that a specific day, or milestone, or achievement is important, and more importantly why it is so.
Celebration is an inside job
. The party is not and never was about the balloons, the cake, the fanfare. The real party, the actual cause for celebration, is the success you FEEL, the thanks you understand, the gratitude you exude.
Aging well is a success. Family is a success. Business growth is a success. I am a success and so are you.
Without clarity in regard to May 26
th
being my 60
th
birthday, it bleeds into every other day unnoticed. If I don’t recognize that May 14
th
is Randi Levin Coaching’s 6
th
Anniversary, then I rob myself of the joy of achieving. Even a Hallmark holiday such as Mother’s Day, deserves a 24- hour spotlight (I prefer to think that every day is Mother’s Day because it is a hard job that runs 24/7 from the moment it begins.)
So, I will choose to acknowledge and celebrate all of May’s important events, mindfully. In a much larger sense, what I will be celebrating is the abundance that each day permits into my life, and the legacy of the day at hand, each day, milestone or no milestone. One success at a time. From the inside out, not from the outside in.
If the essence of celebration is the abundance and thanks it defines, then these beautiful May events are not diminished by a pandemic. In fact, they are highlighted and spotlighted, because this year they have gifted me the opportunity to dig deeper, to appreciate more, to be mindful of abundance and choice, and to cognitively separate the successes from the parties and events that often mask the essence of them. The heart of celebration is the gift of accomplishment, because without acknowledging that…there is nothing to celebrate in the first place.
Celebrate with me this month.
Every day I will be keeping an abundance and gratitude journal, and if that appeals to you, I hope you will too. My journal will support me in reaching out to three people per day via a thank you note in regard to what they mean to me or my business. This blog post is my first journal entry!
Drop me an email and let me know how you are celebrating you in May and what you are grateful for. Or even better, let’s
talk about it.
