Have a Piece of Cake

I’m here to give you permission to celebrate your small victories.  Yes, even the teeny tiny ones.  I’ll give you a couple examples. 

Yesterday, for the first time in what seemed like forever, I cleaned out my work email inbox.  I can’t even express to you how glorious it felt to read “No New Mail” when I was done.  I think I clapped in utter glee.  A lot of the clutter was content that needed to be appropriate classified and put into a folder, longer-term action items that I had to log for addressing later, etc.   In the very next breath, my victory was squashed by the same person that just celebrated it seconds ago. I started thinking to myself, “Self.  Great job finishing a task that you could’ve knocked off your list weeks ago.  When will you ever get it together?” 

Today, I struggled to pull myself together.  I have a young toddler at home and she’s going through some sleep regression and teething troubles.  This meant that I was in her nursery several times last night to soothe her back to sleep.  She decided she was up for the day at 4am; that was fun.  I wallowed in my sleep-deprived stupor for quite some time, sighing and lamenting, “I’m never going to figure out how to balance being a new mom and new business owner.  This just isn’t possible.” 

This morning I chatted with someone who was so down on herself for not accomplishing her entire list of action items in preparation to exchange financial documents with an ex-partner.  She was apologetic and came across as embarrassed and overwhelmed.  I ended up giving her the same speech that I MYSELF needed to hear yesterday and this morning, and I’m thinking that a lot of YOU need to hear the same:  I AM PROUD OF YOU.  I CELEBRATE YOUR VICTORIES.  YOU ARE GETTING THINGS DONE.  THIS IS POSSIBLE, AND I WILL LIFT YOU UP ALONG THE WAY.   

So please - take that victory lap whenever you deserve one, and chances are that’s more often than you allow yourself.  Cut yourself a slice of cake when it’s not a birthday.  Give yourself a pat-on-the-back or a high-five.  Put on a happy song and dance for a few minutes.  Sing your best Whitney Houston in the shower later.  Life is made up of a series of small victories, the compilation of which amounts to big movement and changes.  It’s synergistic in a way, right?  Like, 1 plus 1 is greater than 2.  The sum is greater than its parts.  But the parts got you there.  And remember, I’ve got you, and you belong here.