Marking or celebrating your own achievements may not feel like the most natural thing to do, but its very important to stressbusting™ 👊.
The reason for this is that it reinforces a positive purpose to existence 💫, particularly if you are in a situation where it is rare for others to sing your praises.
We find that because we make a considerable effort to help and support others but with minimum fuss 🤫
We thus rarely receive the external compliments and recognition our efforts arguably merit.
Its really a case of “The squeaky wheel usually gets the oil” 😫.
Meaning that those who demand the recognition are habitually the ones that receive it, not those who provide their time and support because they feel it is the right and moral thing to do, not in return for any registered plaudits or favours.
So, from time to time, we make a point of celebrating our own efforts as a household and give ourselves a pat on the back for them and their positive results in the family and community we are fortunate enough to inhabit.
This can take the form of buying a simple card of congratulations, cooking ourselves a nice meal after having helped family or friends deal with a challenging situation or just telling one another how proud we are of the people we are, our positive best intentioned actions and the fundamental values we continue to stand for.
These validation exercises are minimal cost, but they are critical to our continued self recognition of the important positive differences we make 💪, even if others do not communicate this to us themselves or indeed to themselves, whether out of pride, embarrassment, stubbornness, ignorance or otherwise.
It also acts as an incentive to do further good works without losing heart or questioning the value of our efforts.
As humans, we tend to dwell on the less positive aspects of our personalities, which is all well and good if the purpose of doing so is self improvement, but this can be at the expense of in fact missing the good that we do as a matter of course in our day to day activities and attitudes.
Not recognising this can cause sadness and a sense of non fulfilment.
Yet a kind smile here 😊, a comforting wave there 👋 or a reminder that you care to someone who needs to hear it 💝can make a world of difference to them and others that you might never get to know about.
For this reason, we keep a packet of “Thank You” cards that we are meticulous to take the time to write and post whenever someone has done us a good turn, whether they know it or not.
While emails are all well and good, we find that they are not as personal as having taken this effort to deliver an ink written but simple physical gesture of our thanks.
These are always well received and appreciated.
So, don’t be shy when it comes to congratulating yourself and others for actions and achievements you are proud of, as they are intrinsic to human make up and represent important markers of personal growth.
The increased isolationism which has ran out from covid lockdown, remote work entitlements, financial constraints and a dip in global confidence as a whole necessitates this aspect of self care and validation more than ever in these times.
So love&thanks, LouLoU&MikeyM™ 🙏🤝👋❤💙 xxx