Celebrating Milestones

When I was a leader on project teams at work, we would do our best to celebrate milestones. Many times I would write a rhyming poem that made the group laugh.

Some people are good at celebrating and others not so much. I have become good at it over the years because I practice.

In our culture in the States, we tend to celebrate big events like births, birthdays, graduations, promotions, weddings, retirement, and even deaths (depending on the family's culture).

I think we are getting better at celebrating smaller things too. Speaking generally, here are a few examples: we go out for pizza after a little league game; we buy flowers for a friend if they have a performance of some kind, we remember birthdays of loved ones who've passed on, and we certainly have parties at holidays.

It's indeed a nice idea to celebrate ourselves and others when we accomplish things or to recognize significant events in our lives. It's important and it helps us create lovely memories that we can access later down the road.

This week I celebrated 39 years in recovery from addiction. On February 3, 1985, I turned my will and my life over to a Higher Power, and through the fellowship of AA and the Grace of my HP, I haven't found it necessary to take a drink or a drug since then.

This makes me incredibly grateful. For many of those years, I stayed anonymous about this occasion but in recent years I have come out of the closet to celebrate out loud.

I do this because I believe that many people are suffering in silence with an addiction. Hopefully, if they see someone like me, living a life free of alcohol and thriving, they may find the strength to reach out for help and begin a better way of life.

So on Sunday, I went to my meeting and received my medallion. Then 9 awesome friends went to lunch with me to celebrate. After we ordered, my friends went around the table and each of them shared how I had impacted their life.

I cannot even begin to tell you how humbling and amazing this felt. I am so grateful to have this kind of support group in my life.

It's a beautiful example of how to celebrate someone. The next time you are celebrating a person in your life, maybe you can begin this kind of sharing activity. This will help everyone to think about what they love about the person being honored. It not only showers them with love, but it makes the sharer feel good too.

I challenge you to find something to celebrate today. Look for those opportunities at work too and tell your people what you appreciate about them. It will definitely make your day, and theirs, a better day.

I appreciate YOU!

Maureen