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Last week we talked about adding parties into our lives.  How much more fun would it be if we could be celebrating something?  Not only does the focus of celebrating make parties more fun, it helps us to remember to party

Need a reason to start celebrating?

If you are learning and trying to live an intentional life and not just wandering through life, then you have reasons all around you to be celebrating!

This post is based on the assumption that:

• Life is a gift
• We can create our own life by how we respond to what we are given
• There are always things to be celebrating

So,

There should be something everyday worth celebrating.  It is just a matter of creating it and looking for it.

• paying off some debt
• giving some money to a charity
• meeting a milestone working on your passion
• having the guts to make a change or take a step
• following through with exercise
• follow through with other healthy choices
• act of kindness given or received
• accomplishing a step toward a goal
• … and more

If we only write down all the things we need to do we will focus on that.  How about a list of accomplishments? (tweet this) A list to start celebrating!

I am really good at making lists of things to do and when I get to the end of the day and most of the list is still unchecked it can be overwhelming.  This too often becomes a list of failures (even if the only failure is how quick we wanted to get it done).  Lists are things we write, look at, re-read all day.  No wonder our life feels overwhelmed and behind.

Instead, what if we also recorded a list of accomplishments and reasons for celebrating?

I started my list today.  I like using Evernote for lists that will last, so I create a note called ‘Celebrating’.

Today I reached:

1. an exercise goal (not anything noteworthy but a personal best for me for the year)
2. explored our new neighborhood and found a new park for the kids
3. worked on MailChimp for the website… still not figured out, but much closer
4. got my last contributors for ‘You Can Do It Too – 25 Homeschool Families Share Their Stories‘ coming out this August.

Otherwise today was uneventful – park, pool, soccer and a bunch of dirty dishes.  But when I looked I found some real exciting reasons to celebrate!  They represent ways I had to get out of my comfort zone.  They are also each a step completed toward a bigger goal.

This is similar to a thankful list.  I read One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are last fall and really liked what Ann Voskamp said. In a way this is a thankful list but still different.  Being thankful is appreciating what you are given.  This is very important.

However, our ‘celebrating’ list is an intentional list.  I want you to record things you have accomplished because of your goal to live intentionally.  Everyone is different so this is very personal.  For example my #1 wouldn’t be much for other people to celebrate but to me it is tangible proof I am working toward something I believe in and want.  Celebrate the effort and the journey!

What about you?  Can you start celebrating today?

What are you going to celebrate?  Can you start a list?

My goal is to keep this up (ideally) every day.  I did it in Evernote so I could watch it grow and come back to it later.

Often when we look at where we are verses where we want to be in life it can feel like we aren’t making any progress.  It is when we can look back, just a little, that we can see how far we have come.

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