Keeping Up

Celebrate your accomplishments!

Keeping Up

Lately, do you feel like you just can’t keep up?

Like with anything anymore?

Has life begun to resemble a constant game of wack-a-mole … but with the moles coming at you from all sides? Not those cute yet pesky, furry little guys that are the bane of manicured lawns everywhere. But giant bloodthirsty mutant moles intent on draining you dry.

You are not alone.

I know this for a fact, because I’m right there with you.

And I’m fairly certain, by the posts I read, that it’s not just the two of us here pulling out our hair and screaming into the void. In fact, more and more it looks like we are the majority and that the sheer amount of hair-pulling could easily supply padding for the nests of the entire North American bird population.

And the funny thing is, I often don’t even know what I’m trying to keep up with … what it is I’m chasing.

I mean … I kind of do.

I’m a writer. I want to write amazing stories and books that find their ways to readers. That bring them some kind of joy or make them think or even just help them escape reality for a bit. Books and stories that also help to provide for my family.

To do that, writers have to do so much more than write (and research to write and edit and polish the writing).

Picture an author happily juggling three balls: research, writing, edits. Then, after publishing a book …throw in another few balls to represent marketing promos, networking, and engaging with readers (which is actually two balls: online and in person). Add another three balls for a new book.

The emails,

the subscriptions,

the pages and pages and pages on social media that we feel we need to update and check continuously to stay current … to stay relevant.

Things that are supposed to facilitate our lives. Things that give us reach. Things we need to do to reach success … the gold ring on the carousel … the center of the bullseye. Things that can suck us into a giant spinning vortex…

But wait … what does success look like? What do we do when we reach our goals?

Well, in part thanks to social media, we are immediately faced with those who have achieved bigger and better goals … and ours don’t look all that great anymore. So, we feel we need to adjust ours and get back to work. Scale up, baby!

But … something important is missing.

I joined an accountability group a little over a year ago. A group of women whose one true similarity is the desire to achieve our goals. We come from different backgrounds, have different careers, want different things.

In one of our weekly meetings, the question arose of how we celebrate when we reach a goal…

Celebrate? Like … do something for myself? I was at a loss. Hadn’t really thought about it.

But what is the point of trying to keep up if we don’t ever celebrate our milestones? If we don’t pause to enjoy our successes?

I was thinking about this while crocheting my thinking kraken this morning. Making these little guys has become more than just a way to kick-start creativity before writing. More than just a calling card I can give to people at conferences. (Here comes the kraken lady!) I find it helps me to think on all sorts of topics. Forces me to slow down for a moment.

This one had me thinking about the fact that I need to prompt myself to take a beat and celebrate my accomplishments before moving on to the next goal. And it had me pondering on how exactly to do that.

I’ll let you know when I figure that out. It might take a few more krakens, honestly.

In the meantime…

What are some ways you celebrate your milestones?

If you don’t … why not? You deserve to recognize and celebrate your achievements.

It doesn’t have to be a parade or a fancy night out.

Could be a hike or coffee with your favorite person.

If it brings you joy and gives you a moment to smile at what you’ve accomplished, it might be just the thing you need to recharge before resuming your journey.