You Need To Celebrate

[box options]I was asked to answer the question “What do I need to celebrate?” for The Celebration Series blog crawl project put together by Annika Martins. I’m one of 10 writers Annika asked to blog about making space in our lives for celebrating. See what the other bloggers has to say and get info on how you can join in at The Celebration Series.[/box]

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Photo Credit: A♥ via Compfight

What do you see when you think of the word ‘celebrate’?

Balloons and colors, cakes and candies, elaborate decorations planned out to the hilt?

Anniversaries. Birthdays. Christmas. Thanksgiving.

Maybe you even see a Seinfeld classic: a good old fashioned “Festivus for the rest of us?”

Many celebrations come only once a year, some only once in a lifetime. Rare occasions strung together over the course of a year culminating in a handful of good-time gatherings.

Is that enough for you? 

 

Celebrate for Others

We’re creatives and as such we must not only celebrate, but we must celebrate often.

Why?

Celebrating makes us come alive. Life begets life. Always.

By cherishing and relishing in the sweet, simple pleasures of life, we invite others to come alive, to feel, to enjoy, to slow down and enjoy.

The joy of bringing life to others is the ultimate in creative fulfillment. What better way to bring life than daily celebrations.

 

Celebrate for You

Make it a daily practice to celebrate.

Start now.

“But I don’t have the time,” you may say.

That’s exactly the reason you need to celebrate.

(Aside: I firmly believe that’s what candy is for: it’s a mini-celebration. A party in my mouth.)

So to answer Annika’s question: what do I need to celebrate…

  • the end of the work day.
  • the beginning of a work day.
  • the baking of a loaf of bread, a great meal made, a great meal eaten.
  • an accomplishment.
  • learning from a failed attempt.

Celebrating daily and celebrating often, not just the once-a-year-usuals, feeds our creativity and invites others to join in the journey as well.

You’ll be glad you did.

Question: What do you need to celebrate?

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Author: Andrew Zahn

I'm a son, husband, dad, business owner, actor and good sleeper/eater. On this blog, I pave a highway for creative growth by providing food, water, and shelter for those wishing to live, work, and play with creative zest.

13 thoughts on “You Need To Celebrate”

  1. Oh, man- awesome. If we’re not intentional about celebrating, we often get caught up in complaining, and focusing on where we’ve come up short.
    We do this in our worship team, started taking a moment each time we meet specifically to celebrate what God is doing in our lives, as opposed to just making list of who is in the hospital or is looking for work. Not saying other prayer requests are unimportant, but if we’re not careful we can overlook the victories for all of the turmoil going on.

    1. Sometimes taking prayer requests turns into a complaining session. It’s often super-negative.

      Thanks for your comment beardedidealist dude. 😉

  2. To add to Stephen’s comment—yes, prayer is more than supplication. When I committed my heart to the Lord at 16, one of the things my Bible study group taught me is to think of prayer in terms of the acronym ACTS.

    Acclamation, Confession, THANKSGIVING, supplication.

    When we celebrate, we open our hearts to gratitude. It is in gratitude that we then have the right frame of spirit to ask for what we need, because we have reminded ourselves of His abundance and His willingness that we should prosper, not perish.

    The more regularly we celebrate, the more natural it becomes. It’s a habit worth forming. Before I go over my mental to-do list, I give thanks for the new day, for our health, for His provision, for the awakening He caused in my heart about the gifts I had not developed until midlife.

    To add to what you said, Andrew—”The joy of bringing life to others is the ultimate in creative fulfillment.” This is echoed in what Don Miller wrote: “My work isn’t about me. It’s about others. As I’ve gotten older I’ve lost interest in making myself look good and become more interested in CREATING GREAT EXPERIENCES for people or changing culture.”

    1. Your comment is RICH! Isn’t thankfulness so amazing?

      It’s truly one of my favorite feelings… that and gratitude.

  3. Celebrating is vital to our lives. It’s why God instituted a number of celebrations for the Israelites in scripture. We need those reminders to stop and rejoice in what we’ve done or achieved or simply received from Him.

  4. I try to find something to celebrate every day. I have been trying to teach this to my team at work. We celebrate even the boring stuff that we get done. Why? Because we can move on. It breaks up the monotony. That doesn’t count that we try to stop and eat together for every birthday.

    1. Celebrating the boring stuff could be hysterical right?!

      “Fran just rearranged her desk! Everyone, come look at how amazing it is!” 😉

  5. My wife and I have a little girl that is learning something new all the time. That makes celebrating frequent. It isn’t hard to find things worth celebrating with her around.

    I suppose I should celebrate more when I learn something new.

    1. I bet her discovery and joy in the simple things can help you and your wife as well.

      Thanks for dropping in, as always, Dannon.

  6. We find something to celebrate every day. After having side-stepped cancer, just getting out of bed in the morning and putting both feet on the ground is a blessing.

    We get caught up in the “every-day” every day, but Kathy and I make a point to stop and smell the roses.

  8. I’ve heard Oprah talk about having a grateful diary which goes along with daily celebrating. I try and daily think/celebrate/be grateful for my family, talents, friends, living in San Diego, and small little aspects of my life.

    Great reminder.

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