How to Celebrate Milestones
Note the triumphant moments in your life and mark them with a party or a gift.
Note the triumphant moments in your life.
Milestones aren't only a great reason to throw a party. They are also a way to mark the seasons of life by acknowledging where we have been and announcing where we are going. Milestones prompt us to reflect on what we hold dear.
Inside, we will cover the benefits of celebration and how to celebrate milestones.
The importance of celebrations
The celebration of milestones organizes both communal and domestic life. The certainty of certain milestones (like yearly holidays) provides stability. Rituals, frequently a part of celebrations, also reduce anxiety.
"Festive spirit" isn't only a turn of phrase. Work from the University of Massachusetts Amherst Travel and Tourism Research Association indicates a festival atmosphere engenders positive emotions. Study after study shows positive emotions improve health outcomes. The message is clear: celebrate to stay healthy.
Celebration of large life milestones and major holidays is often a given. But what counts as a milestone? Should we only celebrate the big ones? In truth, milestones are self-defined.
Studies show turning everyday events into moments for celebration and gratitude can boost one’s mood. These mini-celebrations can be moments for mindfulness. According to Stanford University behavioral scientist BJ Fogg, mini-celebrations can even reinforce and help form habits.
Your own holiday
An example from my own life is my now-wedding anniversary: October 15th.
My husband’s late mother made October 15th a holiday for his family. She loved autumn and used her half-birthday to create a holiday all their own. Every year, she would gather friends and family to celebrate.
I never got the chance to meet her, but October 15th is an important day in my husband’s life. The ritual of a yearly celebration made it an important day in the life of everyone she knew. That importance continues. We got married on that day to honor her and continue marking October 15th as a celebration.
What to do
Attempting to establish a ritualized celebration can be difficult. Focus on consistency and ease. Don’t save celebrating only on major holidays. Celebrate the moments that matter in the lives of those you love. For example, when a friend marks yet another year sober or gets to put Ph.D. after their name, make it a full-on celebration. Consider a potluck: it allows each guest to contribute, lowers pressure on the host and differentiates a celebration from a run-of-the-mill dinner out.
For those who cannot celebrate in person, there are still meaningful ways to mark a milestone. A study in the Journal of the Association for Consumer Research proposed that a commemorative gift can have as much impact as a celebration. A well-chosen gift can be a wonderful way to mark a milestone.
What not to do
There are two essential mistakes one can make when trying to create a milestone celebration. The first is not creating celebratory rituals. Celebrations are built on consistent rituals, like putting up a Christmas tree or setting out a menorah. Rituals give holidays their specialness. If you aren’t consistent with your celebrations, you won’t create a holiday.
The other major mistake one can make is not creating a festive atmosphere. Celebrations rely on care. A festive environment can't be accidentally created. Take time to consider your celebration and what you'd like it to encompass. Things will not come together without organization.
Summary
Marking milestones is an important way to mark time, communally and individually. Ritualized celebrations form positive emotions and may reduce anxiety.
— Create consistency. Rituals will form when you are consistent with your celebrations.
— Be deliberate. Celebrations are ways to show you care.
— Make your own rules. Milestones are self-created. If you want every Tuesday to be a holiday, make it so!
— Give a gift. For those who can't be present, a thought-out gift can have the same impact as a big bash.