Ep 4: Fuel Your Life with Celebration

In today's episode, we're gonna be talking about celebrating. We're gonna look at the top three reasons why people normally skip the step and how you can start incorporating celebration into your everyday life. Let's go.

Hello! You are listening to Love Your Life as a Performer podcast. I'm Kelli Youngman and I am The Life Coach for Performers. I help actors, singers, and dancers love themselves and their lives way more. So keep listening to learn how you can love your life - both on and off the stage.

Hello and welcome back to episode four of the Love Your Life as a Performer podcast. You know, I actually had a different topic prepared for today, however, because it was recently my birthday.

If you're listening to this, when it's being released, my birthday was about a week ago on August 7th, if you're listening to this in the future, that's totally okay, too. It just feels super relevant.  So I wanted to move this episode up and talk about it now. So what we're gonna be talking about today is the value of celebrating.

Now I'm gonna share some reflections on my recent birthday celebration and I truly teach this to all of my clients. They know that most of the time, when we hop on a call, I am going to ask them what they are celebrating or what they want to acknowledge themselves for.

And truly, I think this is something that goes so unnoticed in most people's lives. And most people don't realize the importance of taking time to do this regularly. And that's what we're gonna talk about on today's episode.

So let's start with why celebrating is important, right? It kind of feels like we have this idea that celebrating is for rare occasions or that it's for like big events, big milestone accomplishments, et cetera, et cetera.

And like, those are important. A hundred percent. And we also can celebrate the wins along the way in order to stay connected to what we are trying to accomplish. Right. And when we do this, we are creating an energy, a mood, a feeling of a lot of pride and worthiness and acknowledgement that gets to be fuel for you along the way.

Celebrating also keeps you in the place of being inspired and ready for more. Celebrating has that sort of like re-energizing feeling. It's fun. Like there's so many reasons why celebrating is important. And I think the biggest reason to celebrate is because you get to acknowledge your growth.

Celebrating is literally like this magic portal where you get to step into being the next version of you. It gets to elevate and expand your capacity to receive. It creates more space and more comfort with accomplishing big things, right. Or small things, but it just gets to really anchor you into the idea that you are someone amazing. That you are worth celebrating and that the things you're doing in your life matter.

Truly. I want you to think about when is the last time you really let yourself sit in the feeling of being amazing and acknowledging that. And also sitting with the discomfort of acknowledging that you're amazing.  Because that can also be equally as uncomfortable -to really sit with the growth and invite the feeling and sensation of pride into your body.

And that brings me to the top three reasons why people skip celebrating. Because the feeling of pride can be really uncomfortable at first, especially if you are associating the feeling of pride with arrogance.  So often we skip the celebrating because we think that it's going to be received or perceived by others as being arrogant, selfish, conceded, right?

Like everyone's afraid of like being the person that's bragging. And what I wanna offer is like, why not be the person that's willing to brag about themselves? Like really sit with that. Because  remember celebrating is just giving yourself one giant permission slip to step into even more. It's giving everyone around you permission to step into being whoever they wanna be too.

So in order to lean into celebrating first, you have to be willing to create safety, to celebrate, right? You have to be willing to see that celebrating benefits you and everyone around you. I really want you to consider why that is true for you. And here's the thing, right? I'm sure throughout your life and your journey as a human, at some point in time, there may be people who are not happy to see you celebrating and who do not feel good by seeing your joy, your pride, and your delight in what you are creating.

And what I have to say to that is so what, so what? It's okay. If people don't like you celebrating. It's okay if people receive that as bragging. It's okay. Because that is their human experience. Those are their thoughts. And you get to decide whether you are gonna live your life for you or for other people. And what I know to be true is that when I am living for myself, it is actually more in service of everyone around me.

So think about why that could be true for you too. How is it the most loving, generous thing you can do to celebrate yourself, right? To really celebrate yourself without needing other people, to celebrate you, too. Of course, it's always nice to have that. And when you're willing to celebrate yourself first, you get to create the safety to do that.

And if other people don't wanna celebrate, that's also genuinely okay. It only gets a little sticky when then we're thinking like, "Well, that person should be celebrating for me." And you know what? That's actually not always true. Right. What is always true is that you get to  celebrate yourself and you get to create the safety to celebrate. That comes from you. That comes from your thoughts and your intention.

Now let's talk about the second reason why people skip celebrating. They think their celebration is not big enough, right? It's like, "Oh, that's not really that big of a thing." And this shows up for my clients when they come to a call and they say, oh, nothing big happened this week... like I have nothing to celebrate. And I know for a fact that that is simply not true! There is always something to celebrate! Always. And that might be, you know what, today I got up and I got dressed. That's a freaking celebration! Today, I woke up. Celebration! Today I brushed my teeth. Celebration! You get to decide what is worth celebrating and why wouldn't you just marvel in the deliciousness of celebrating? Always.

The other reason why I think it's really important to start normalizing, celebrating things that are air quote untraditional, right? Like not only celebrating the big outward facing things, but also celebrating the internal wins is so that you are setting up and showing yourself that everything you do to move the needle matters.

Everything you do makes a difference. And this is how we create big ass change in our lives.  When we're willing to celebrate the accomplishments, like, you know what, today I really wasn't an asshole to myself. I was super loving and comforted myself while I was going through a struggle.  That is just as important to celebrate as booking your next show.

And honestly, I think sometimes it's even more important to celebrate those internal wins. Right? It's not always about celebrating the big things like money or a job or buying a new house. Like these milestones are incredible. And, they inevitably happen less frequently than the wins that you are experiencing every single day.

It's so important to start celebrating things that you think might not be worth celebrating. Right. Whether it's how you're speaking to yourself, how you showed up for a friend, how you showed up for yourself. There's so many things to celebrate and the more you start doing this regularly, the more momentum you will create.

And this actually brings me to the third reason why most people don't celebrate. They think it's gonna stop the momentum.   Like, there's this idea that's celebrating will somehow like make you stop "working hard." Lots of air quotes, "work hard." Right? Like that somehow stopping to celebrate and acknowledge yourself will make you just like, sort of suddenly be content with where you are and you won't have the drive to keep going.

And that could not be further from the truth. The reason why people think this is because they think we need to fuel goals and  success or all of this stuff. Like we need to keep fueling it from not enoughness. Of like, oh, I'm not there yet, so I gotta keep working hard. Versus like, Seeing that when you're really celebrating along the way, it gives you the momentum to keep going.

It's the thing that has you feeling like you're getting closer. I'm almost there! Like this is happening! Like that energy is actually what keeps you moving forward. If you're telling yourself like, oh, I'm not there yet. I guess that was progress, but I still got a long way to go...  that is like the least motivating way to look at things.

Right. That's when it feels like you're just like going up this constant uphill battle. It's just like, it's not the most useful thing. It's not the most energizing way to treat yourself and to treat the things that you're accomplishing. So when you're thinking that celebrating will stop your momentum, just remember it is the exact opposite. Celebrating will fuel you like no other! And it will create way more momentum in the longevity of your career and your life.

You get to freaking celebrate every single thing that you do. And it's SO fun to really acknowledge yourself. It's so freaking fun. Even though it might be a little uncomfortable at first, when you get past it and you start celebrating you will see how everything gets so much easier and way more fun.

Okay. So those are some of the reasons why people avoid celebrating and now that you know them, you can keep an eye out for them, and you can just have awareness of yourself and where you hold back in celebrating so that you can instead lean in. Like really lean into celebrating every single thing you do and give yourself permission to believe that you are freaking amazing.

So I'm gonna tell you a few ways that you can start celebrating, because again, I know for myself and my clients, that when you finally do give yourself permission to celebrate, the next question is usually HOW.

How am I supposed to celebrate? And here's the thing, right? I think a lot of times too, again, we have this correlation of celebrating with going out and spending money or going to a huge dinner or doing these big extravagant things and yes, celebrating in that way can be super fun and it doesn't always have to look like that.

So I'm gonna tell you my top three ways to celebrate without spending any money.

One, you can text a friend that you love. And I actually have a few friends in my life where we do this and we are willing to just freaking celebrate each other. It's so much fun. You can just text a friend and say, "Hey, this just happened. And I'm so excited!" Right. And before you share, you could always ask like, Hey, do you have space for a celebration, right? You could do that. And you can also just establish with a specific friend that you are gonna do this for each other, because it's also so fun to start normalizing, celebrating other people, too.

You can actively show your brain that it's safe to celebrate others. And their success does not take away from yours. You can actually choose to use other people's success to fuel your own, right? Like one big circle of celebration. Okay.

My second favorite way to celebrate is by throwing a dance party, right? Like I will dance it out all day, every day, just like Christina and Mer on Grey's Anatomy and you just freaking put on a song you love and then you dance party it out. You can do it solo. You can do it with friends. Either way, the reason why I love dance parties as a way to celebrate is because it really is like a felt vibrational experience, right?

It's not just like intellectually acknowledging your win, but it's like genuinely feeling the pride, the joy, the fun in your body. Right. It's like literally embodying the celebration. So this is another way you can celebrate without spending any freaking money.

The third way that I love to celebrate is by just infusing celebration into whatever you're doing. You could literally sit down and journal and just acknowledge and like reflect. If you're going out to take a walk, you can infuse that walk with celebration, right? If you're already on your way to a dance class, you can allow that to be a celebration. Like literally, you can make anything a celebration if you are infusing it intentionally with the purpose of celebrating, right. You can celebrate in so many ways. And I want you to keep exploring ways that you can celebrate that feel good for you.

And yes, of course. Can you celebrate with buying something or treating yourself or going out to a nice dinner, having some bubbles? Absolutely. Right. And we wanna just keep expanding your repertoire and your sort of tool belt of ways to celebrate, so that it doesn't always feel like it has to be attached to money.  Even though, of course, yes! Celebrating with money is also really fun and an energy expander in all of the things.

Okay! So now, you know why it's important to celebrate. You know the top three reasons why people skip it, and how to be aware and make sure that you're not avoiding it so that you can lean into celebration. And you also know how to get started with celebrating.  Yay!

Now, before we end this episode, I do wanna just share what inspired me to make this podcast. Recently, I threw myself a freaking amazing birthday party. I spent a lot of money hosting this event. I rented out my rooftop on my building. I ordered an expensive cake. I got myself a dress and paid to have it altered. I like really did the damn thing! 

And the reason why this is so fun for me, and you'll see this as you continue celebrating yourself, is that you also give yourself permission to live into your fullest expression of you. You'll start expanding your capacity to celebrate, your capacity to receive, and your capacity for joy and pride and love. All of that expands whenever you keep giving yourself permission to do that. So, yeah, this birthday party, this celebration, this active celebration was a hundred percent pushing my limits and expanding my personal capacity to do all of these things.

And it just keeps me excited and ready and motivated to keep expanding what I believe is possible for me. It's so freaking important. And I genuinely know that I just burst past some self inflicted limitations and also created way more space for freedom, play, and unexpected surprises of what's coming next.

So, yeah. I can't wait to hear what you are celebrating and how this impacts the way that you celebrate you - every single freaking day.

I hope you enjoyed today's episode! And if you did, make sure to share it with a friend who is also an actor, singer or dancer. You can also help spread the word by leaving us a review wherever you listen to podcasts in order to help people find this resource.

You can find me on Instagram  @kelliyoungmanwellness and if you're interested in coaching, make sure to head to kelliyoungmanwellness.com/waitlist to join my list now. See you soon!