Put on your party dress and CELEBRATE YOURSELF!
I recently had a birthday. It fell on a Tuesday this year — pretty stinky, huh? It’s a shame that we only get to have a birthday on a weekend once every 5 years or so. The office I work in is a pretty “touch-feely, give you a hug if you’re having a bad day” kind of environment. So it’s no surprise that we have a bulletin board with everyone’s birth date listed for everyone to see — and in this age of Facebook, the fact that it’s your special day is pretty hard to go un-detected. So generally the tradition in the office is to go to the local Dairy Queen and pick up an ice cream cake for everyone, and invite all the employees to stand around awkwardly together about 4:00 p.m. in the break room to eat cake and to “celebrate” your birthday. It’s horrible.
So after enduring this torture last year (my first birthday at this office), I decided there and then that this year, I was going to take vacation hours and give myself a day off for my birthday. And that’s just what I did! I gave myself the joy of knowing that I had a tidy little perfect day of vacation hollowed out for myself in the middle of the week, and took the opportunity to do a bit of indulging. I grabbed a coffee at my favorite coffee shop, indulged in a massage, had lunch with my husband, did some browsing in some of my favorite shops, and generally took it easy.
I told myself that no errands were allowed on this day, and no rushing around either. Sure, it was tempting to use this brief respite in my week to catch up on some laundry, run to the store to pick up a few household items we were out of, or clean out my e-mail inbox. To be sure, for someone who likes to organize, doing these tasks might have even been considered fun; I love getting ahead and organizing and that feeling I get when everything is “just right” in my home (even if it only stays that way for about 20 minutes or so), but this day of indulgence required a bit more discipline from myself.
I had to consciously dedicate my entire day to relaxing, reflecting, indulging and celebrating myself. And when I realized how difficult this was, it became apparent how important — no, how essential this kind of celebration was. Inspiration maven Tracy Porter reminds us almost daily that we need to create a wonderful life for ourselves, because no one else will do it for us. How true. No one else will take the time to ensure that you are happy in your job, that you are living an art-filled beautiful life, that you are taking time to smell the eucalyptus, that you are breathing deep and caring for yourself. No one! You’re the only one that can concern yourself with these all-important aspects of a life well lived. And if you don’t take steps to ensure that you’re living your life well, who will? No one.
So how do you take time to celebrate yourself? Although I highly recommend giving yourself a day off for your birthday next year, you needn’t wait until then, and this is certainly something that should happen a few times each year (at least!) — so go get your day planners now, and mark out 3 or 4 (or even 5!) days this next year that you will take some time to rest and reflect on your life to ensure that you are doing all you can to ensure that it is one that is well-lived.
