Dynamic Reader:

“I’ve been thinking,” I said.

My husband met my gaze across the lunch table with an ‘oh, oh’ look on his face.  He waited.

“Since we are taking this trip to celebrate our 25^th wedding anniversary, I was thinking that we could play a game.  What if we looked for 25 things to celebrate every day of our trip?”

“That sounds like too much…I doubt that there would be that many options to celebrate every day,” he quickly replied.

“But that’s the point,” I argued.  “We would be forced to really pay attention and to stay focused on celebrating big and small moments.”

This month of May has been a big one for celebrations.  Firstly, May is my birthday month, so I tend to celebrate for a week or two if possible!  Secondly, this year, May marks six years since my cancer diagnosis so I am also celebrating my continued good health.  And finally, my sweetie and I just spent 3 weeks celebrating 25 years of marriage by traveling around Peru where the above conversation played out. 

I wanted to help us remember why we were traveling through Peru and he agreed to play along.  Every day we started a list and purposefully looked for something to celebrate.  We celebrated little things like tasting new fruit, coca leaves in our hotel room, hot water in the shower, and finding a place to buy stamps.  We celebrated the big things like safe flights, adorable eclectic hotels with stunning views of the Andes, the moment when the clouds parted and we saw the ruins of Machu Picchu for the first time….

Most days we found our 25 – some days more, some days less – but every day held the energy of celebrating our life. 

About halfway through the trip I noticed that something was different.  We were happier than we have ever been on a trip.  We travel well together but there is usually a day when we disagree, argue or one or both of us has a meltdown making the next few days tense and strained (and one of us looking for early flights home…)

We didn’t hit that point this time – even when we had setbacks like a sprained ankle, delayed flights, rain the day we toured Machu Picchu or were running on 2 hours of sleep because of marathon travel.  The focus on celebration fed us, sustained us and made everything easier. 

What would your life be like if you looked for 25 things to celebrate each day?  How would your energy,  your work, your family, your community be impacted by a daily dose of celebration energy? 

I encourage you to give it a try – I’ll bet you’ll be amazed at what happens! 

Love,