‘Do you really have a reason to open up champagne bottles so often?’ A friend recently asked me. I snapped a little, then said, “Yes, I do.”
I don’t drink champagne every day. Not because I don’t have reasons often, but because I don’t always feel like it. Sometimes I want tea, tonic water, a glass of white wine.
But there are many days when I can open up a bottle of champagne.
I think it’s important to see why we open the champagne. Traditionally, we do it to celebrate something: our birthday, a significant achievement, marriage, winning an important prize, elections 😉.
But I think there are other reasons to celebrate. For me, here are some of them:
After an exhausting week, with many emotions, which ends well;
After extraordinary feedback received, that makes me happy;
When I have a new client or one that returns;
When I enrolled in a course where I will learn something new – it is an investment of time, energy, to learn something new;
After I kept my temper in a situation with great potential for scandal;
I had an intervention that was appreciated in a meeting/presentation by a larger group;
I started an exercise plan;
I wrote something new, and it was published, appreciated;
I have been in business for 24 years;
I did everything I had to do in one day – it always happens to us, the list is always much too long, but it’s worth rejoicing when we tick everything we had there.
Of course, we have been raised, many from my generation, to be critical of ourselves, to not settle with less, to not celebrate ourselves, to wait for someone else to celebrate us. The ideal path to dissatisfaction, unrealistic expectations, frustration, I would say. Because others have their lives, they have others to take care of.
We are the first ones responsible for our condition. We know best what we want and what we don’t want when we achieve something, when we should be proud, happy. We also know that being satisfied with something, no matter how small, is food for the brain, it stimulates the secretion of dopamine, which gives us a good mood, helps us to see the good side of the world.
After losing loved ones, after going through very difficult times, I learned to enjoy the small joys of life. And that works for me. In the end, waiting for the great achievements, the great loves, the great happiness, life can pass bu us and we forget to rejoice. So, champagne, anyone?