Deep breath in... and release...
I'm taking a moment to celebrate you. No matter how you're feeling about yourself today, you are worthy of celebrating yourself - your existence, your perseverance, your mind, body, and spirit. As a good friend of mine said, "It takes so much bravery to be alive everyday." That's one line I absolutely jotted down in my custom wellness journal.
Celebration is an important part of our mental health, healing, and wellness. Now, I'm not talking about forced positivity, or "turning that frown upside down," or telling someone who feels depressed "Cheer up, you have so much to be grateful for," or telling someone who's struggling, "You'll be ok - you're so strong." As someone on the receiving of those words, I know they can miss the mark.
I'm talking about using our self care journaling to give ourselves the credit we deserve. I'm talking about coming back to love for ourselves, for the people in our lives, for our communities, for our cultures, for the earth. When we celebrate, we keep our love alive. We keep our hope alive. We give ourselves some relief. We affirm that we matter.
In our capitalist culture, it can feel like, we only get to celebrate ourselves when we win. Or, we only celebrate what we do and achieve.
To that, I say, No.
Even when you feel not enough, you are worthy of celebrating yourself - celebrating all your effort, your courage, your progress, and all the steps you have taken to get here, wherever you are.
And beyond celebrating what you do, you are worthy of celebrating you for you - for ALL of you, quirks, imperfections, and all. "In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect" (Alice Walker). That includes you too.
In our May Mini-Retreats, we'll gather on Zoom, and I'll guide us in using self care journaling to celebrate.
We'll start with a self care journaling round to get out of our heads and celebrate the earth, or someone in your life, or your culture. Then, we'll do some self care journaling to practice celebrating ourselves even when we're not at 100%. Last, we'll do a special self care journaling exercise that is about self-expression as a form of self-love, as a way of celebrating all of who you are, wherever you are, however you are.
I would love to see you there. Come as you are.
With love,
Alina Liao, founder of Zenit
Feel it, write it, Zenit
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