Aging Gracefully: National Celebration of Life Week
Well, the new year has rolled in. To some of us, it means facing new obligations that we put off dealing with last year. To others the start of a new year is typified by trying to remember to write the correct year when writing a check! And then, there is National Celebration of Life Week.
Marked in the first week of January each year, this National awareness period is as inoffensive as a celebration can come.
What is National Celebration of Life Week?
It is an opportunity to appreciate life. We appreciate our own lives, our families’ lives and our friends’ lives. If you are lucky enough to have children, grandchildren or even great-grandchildren, you can celebrate their lives – their lives are so important and precious.
It is almost like a National birthday celebration.
Each birthday we celebrate that we lived and enjoyed a whole year of life. We hope and pray to celebrate it again next year. So, here we celebrate that on a grand scale, rejoicing in who we are and who we have in our lives.
No one has to perform any particular obligations, no one has to buy expensive gifts (unless they want to). Yet, National Celebration of Life Week can really be, quite a special celebration for seniors. You have come so far in life – take a moment to stop and celebrate life.
Aging Gracefully Means Looking at Things with a Positive Eye
What does it mean to celebrate life?
There is a quote that I love. It comes from research presented in Business Insider. Researchers measured how often people in 20 cities remarked that they are “happy, safe and satisfied” in life. They concluded that those who mentioned it often, must be enjoying “a pretty high quality of life.”
But I think you can turn the quote around. In order to celebrate life, we should express positive comments often. And in order to have a good quality of life, we should celebrate life. We can comment on and focus on the aspects of our lives that make us feel happy, safe or satisfied. Everyone can find something good in their lives.
That is a skill to help a person age gracefully.
And do you know what? People will likely gravitate towards you once they feel the positive energy you have. It comes from celebrating life.
Small Achievements and National Celebration of Life Week
It is well known among researchers that people who celebrate small achievements progress further. This is a tool for every senior. True, when you are a senior, things take longer. And it is true that if you are in rehabilitation, the therapies can be challenging. But you can use the energy of celebrating small wins to motivate yourself further. In that way, a person can get further with their rehab than anybody else would imagine!
Look where you are now, compare it to where you were not so long ago. If you have moved forward even a little – Celebrate!
Remember each step is a point of advancement on the way to your bigger goal.
Tips to Encourage Success – Celebrating Small Successes
Here are a few tips for ways to celebrate small successes (and big ones too…)
Some of these are from SitePoint:
- Take a deep breath. Stop and focus on what you have achieved.
- Tell your friends and family of your success.
- Allow yourself to rest before embarking on the next stage or challenge.
- Make yourself a celebratory poster. Hang it where you will see it often.
- Think about the goal you have set for yourself. Decide if you need to adjust it.
- Thank those who showed you what to do and cheered you on.
- Take a confidence measure on your own home-made confidence scale.
- Make a prayer to thank for past successes, and for hope for future achievements.
So happy New Year, and here’s to your small achievements.
Celebrate National Celebration of Life Week by yourself or, with friends and family. There are some ideas on-line or maybe you will come up with your own ways to celebrate.
Original Image by Artturi Mäntysaari from Pixabay