I’m sending you good thoughts on this Friday afternoon in San Francisco. I’m back after a week of traveling and it is lovely to reconnect with YOU!
Thank you for showing up for a tiny bit of celebration today.
Whether you are feeling buoyant or blue, you are loved. Whether you need a pick-me-up or you have lots of get-up-and-go, you are loved.
However, this week has been going, I know that you have done the absolute best you can. I hope you will appreciate yourself for THAT. It is what counts.
(I know I repeat this often. You know why? It is something I always need to hear! Ha-ha. I do. It is easy to forget that we have permission to experience the whole range of human stuff!)
You are doing great. Just keep on showing up! Just be exactly you.
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Today’s tiny moment of celebration is, as you have likely guessed, about the BUMPS in the road.
When we are on the road it is nearly impossible to drive very far without ever hitting a bump — big or small. Right?
While in a car, we often barely notice those moments. Or, if we do, we might giggle a little as our coffee jiggles and we feel a little jostled about.
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It can be different when we are talking about emotional bumps or upsets.
You know what I mean? I bet I’m not alone here.
When something is scary or upsetting or when we are fearful or angry, sometimes we forgot that these are not the whole landscape of our lives.
That’s why today I’m suggesting something kinda radical: Let’s celebrate the bumps!
Yeah, celebrate. You heard me right.
What if we could fully embrace our humanness and truly celebrate ALL of it?
What if we didn’t get mad at ourselves or impatient with ourselves or frustrated with ourselves when we aren’t feeling all smooth like a newly paved highway?
What if we cheered ourselves on for being authentic and for experiencing a whole range of emotions?
Here’s how I’m practicing today: I’ve been super worried about something in my life. In fact, sometimes ole Squawky Polly mind gets so loud that the worry starts to feel anxious and panicky.
How can I turn that into a celebration?
My first thought is that I would do what most of us naturally do with children: turn it into a game or into play.
I might say to myself, “Wanna have a Worry Party? We can invite in all the worries and serve them sweet tea!”
I might change clothes and put on a great big black hat with a huge Audrey Hepburn brim — I dunno why, but that feels like a Worry Party hat to me!
I would literally make some tea and put extra honey in it. I would serve it in the mug my mom gave me from Apple Castle that says, “Donut Worry; Live Happley.”
That’s how I would celebrate my worry bumpy emotions!
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Simply writing this to you gives me a feeling a celebration.
I mean it. It does.
It lightens the load. It puts a little humor into the day.
Before I started this letter to you, I wasn’t even sure how I might make the bumps beautiful. I just liked the sound (and feeling!) of it.
YOU helped me. By being on the other side of this conversation, you helped me giggle a little over the emotional bumps inside me.
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Will you try it?
I hope so!
I hope you will experience what it is to create a tiny celebration moment out of a bumpy place in your own life. (Or in that of someone you love!)
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Celebration doesn’t always have to be happy. Celebration can be pillow punches and worry dolls and stomping our feet.
Why not celebrate all of who we are?
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Thank you for being here.
Thank you for your heart, your soul, your spirit, your goodness.
I see you.
I appreciate you.
You are loved.
Seek celebration — even in the dark corners,
xo Sherry