Heck yes! You did it! Here we are at the end of your 25 days of self-care. It is time to celebrate!
Seriously though, how often are you celebrating? We readily celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays. I'm not talking about those. How often are you celebrating your accomplishments? It is really easy to get caught up in growth, progress, the next thing, and the next thing, and the next thing, etc., without taking a second to recognize our accomplishments. To pause and take a look back and say holy smokes, I was back there and now I'm here. When I was back there I never thought I'd get here and I did it!
I'm a firm believer in treats and celebrations for everything. For me, a pretty introverted person, social interactions are a nemesis. Sometimes even going to Target is hard. So I celebrate. I do hard things, I get a treat. I make it through a trip to Target, I get Starbucks. This is your invitation to be extra. Celebrate all of the things.
A little bit of transparency or an anecdote, or whatever you want to call it.
I wrote these prompts a back in the fall. Today (12/23), I sat down to start my 2024 planning using The Maker's Yearbook. The first exercises are about what when well, and what didn't. There was a whole section about success and what you're the most proud of, etc. My brain was completely blank. I know there are things I'm proud of or thought were wildly successful, but today I can't think of a single one.
In general, I go at about 1000 miles an hour most of the time. It dawned on me this morning, that I can't remember what I want to celebrate, because I don't remember most of last week. 2023 is an actual blur. A little more digging and I further realized I didn't really set tangible goals that I could celebrate throughout the year.
So here I sit telling you how important it is to celebrate the little wins, when I probably didn't do the best job of that myself this year. In 2024 I am going to change that. So the bold journal prompt is a bonus for you (and me really).
I am really proud of you for making it to the end of this self-care journey. I hope you enjoyed everyday! I hope your holiday celebrations feel good and bring you joy.
Journal Prompts
- What are you celebrating? If you aren’t celebrating, what could be a reason for celebration?
- How are you celebrating yourself and all the cool stuff you're doing?
- Who brings you happiness and joy? How can you celebrate that?
- Outside of birthdays and holidays, what is your favorite thing to celebrate? When was the last time you celebrated that?
- What goals and/or milestones can you set for 2024 to celebrate throughout the year?
Today's Gift
Today's gift is the Yuletide simmer pot. This a favorite simmer pot of mine that I put on the stove a few times throughout December. The ingredients correspond with Yule, a holiday that I celebrate.
- Rosemary for purification and protection, rebirth and renewal, courage, confidence, and creativity
- Orange for love, luck, and money
- Star Anise for emotional balance, energy, growth, and harmony
- Cinnamon for attraction, awareness, inner balance, healing, peace, prosperity, strength, and success
- Cloves for mental balance, beauty, beginnings, friendship, happiness, the mind, success, warmth, wealth, and truth
I love a good simmer pot, especially this time of year. To use this gift simply add the contents of the paper envelope to a bot, cover with several cups of water, and simmer on the stove like you would mulling spices or a soup. Don't eat the simmer pot, it is NOT soup. Be sure to keep the simmer on low and add water as needed. When you're finished with your simmer pot, drain the water and use a strainer to keep the plant matter from going down the drain. You can also dry out the ingredients and simmer it again, if you like.
Bonus Tip: If you have an orange or some cranberries lying around, add them to the simmer pot. Do be aware the cranberries will pop a bit. When I have a simmer pot on the stove I usually like to use a combo of fresh and dried ingredients.