4 December 2018
Scribe staff
Throughout the first semester of the school year, most UCCS students are often too stressed or too focused on school to take time for themselves and relax. Luckily for them, winter break offers them the chance to sit back and relax before they’re thrown back into a hectic schedule with the spring semester.
Over break, some students will choose to celebrate Christmas, other will celebrate Kwanzaa and some will not celebrate a religious holiday at all.
No matter if you choose to observe a holiday or not, you should find a chance to celebrate, whether it be for the end of the semester, just for yourself or the beginning of a new year.
According to kentuckyfolkweb.com, “Celebration allows us to relax and unwind in the midst of busy and crazy lives,” and “spend our time doing things we love with the people we love.”
When we celebrate, we are given the chance to enjoy ourselves in the moment without worry and remember the things in life that truly matter.
Lifecoach-pro.com also shares that “Celebrating our successes and acknowledging personal growth helps keep us on track and motivated towards our goals.”
Teresa Amabile’s research for the Harvard Business School also supports this claim, as her team found that celebrating small, everyday achievements helped enhance motivation.
According to research by social psychologist Fred Bryan from Loyola University Chicago, celebrations — even micro-celebrations — help people build up resilience to bad events that have the potential to devastate us.
Including others in your celebration can benefit both you and the person you include. Researchers Matt Lieberman and Naomi Eisenberger from the University of California Los Angeles have published studies that show that feeling socially excluded can have a similar effect on the brain as physical pain.
Maybe you do not feel like you have many successes to celebrate this year, but do not worry about that. What matters most is that we celebrate the fact that we tried and made it through. Celebration is a time to set aside self-criticism, relax and focus on being happy.
For many, celebration revolves around family and loved ones achievements. For others, a successful year at work, a birthday or an accomplishment of any sort call for celebration.
Celebrating can also look different for different people, some enjoy treating themselves to a fancy dinner, others prefer a night in with their loved ones and some like to take a day for themselves.
Often times people forgot to celebrate themselves and their achievements because there are too focused on achieving their next goal or feel as if they need to do more before they can truly be proud of themselves, but everyone needs to take a moment and be thankful and reflect on the things that bring joy to their lives.