How Do You Celebrate?

Today, I’m starting with the ending, because I feel like it. Ready? Great, here it is: How do you celebrate when you’re doing good work? I want to know.

See, over the last few weeks, I’ve done really well at pushing my writing career forward. I posted at least once a week on my blog, posted a YouTube video every week, wrote articles, and applied for freelance jobs. I’m not rolling in expendable income or being recognized on the New York Times Best Sellers list yet (lol), but I’m putting in the work and I am proud of myself.

And I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time when I’m doing well. I realize I’m doing well and then all of a sudden, I don’t know how to feel or behave or celebrate. Do I get to take breaks? What if I don’t have ideas? Do I just continue to push through no matter what? How do I motivate myself when I’m being consistent instead of barely scraping by? My usual routine of berating myself for my inconsistency no longer applies! So how do I get myself to enjoy the progress instead of just doing more work?

I know. So many questions. I’m like an anxious toddler. “What is the sky?!” 

But all these questions are the result of not finding time to write a blog post this week. The last few weeks, I’ve had them done early, with plenty of time for my editor to give me her feedback and for me to make changes. This week, I waited too long and did too many other things, and Thursday night came and I felt like I had nothing to give. I didn’t want to skip a week, because I’d been doing well. But I also didn’t know what to write about.

To illustrate my point, here is a screenshot of yesterday’s interaction with my editor. 

Side note: She’s so supportive. Get yourself an editor who cares about your well-being, folks. It’s worth it.

So I decided to take a break. I wanted to contemplate my questions and take time to reflect. How do I celebrate when I am doing well? How do I enjoy my progress? I wasn’t going to write a blog this week. 

But then I had a new problem. Can you guess what it was? Ding ding ding, you nailed it. I wanted to ask you guys my questions. I want to know what you think. So: How do you celebrate when you’re doing well? How do you make sure that you don’t just grind through, working hard until you can’t work hard anymore? 

I’ll be over here reflecting, so in the meantime, please tell me your tips and tricks!