Let go of the overwhelm. Celebrate your Ta-Da! List
Take a moment to celebrate how amazing you already are.
If you’re like the rest of us, you have a never-ending to-do list, and the minute you check one item off, another gets added. (Or, let’s be honest, just as often we get excited about a new project and add 10 more items to our list!)
So today may be the day to remind you of Lara Wellman’s wisdom. She writes:
“By never being satisfied until everything is done, we set ourselves up to never be satisfied. Here’s the thing: There are always new things to add to our lists, because life and work keep evolving and moving” (p. 118).
Today, instead of focusing on what remains on your to-do list, take a moment to make a list of all you’ve accomplished this year.
Let’s make what Gretchen Rubin calls a “Ta-da! List.”
Here are just a few of my accomplishments so far this year:
- Taught an incredibly life-giving course – Storytelling for Leaders – to doctoral students at Fielding Graduate University who have so many stories to tell, so much impact, and such passion for social justice and equity,
- Launched happierinhighered.com
- Spent a week with my mom.
- Discovered a new coffee shop that brings joy to my heart.
- Shared my passion for the equity-mission of community colleges on a national panel with some pretty brilliant colleagues.
- Practiced yoga.
Yes, there are still loads of items on my to-do list, and many things I hope to (and need to!) accomplish this year. But for now, we’ve already done enough to celebrate.
“When you can alleviate some of the urgency and heaviness around what still needs to come and celebrate your accomplishments, you change how your days feel” (Wellman, 2023, p. 119).
What do you have to celebrate?