You Deserve to Celebrate (Yes, Even THAT Win)

So, I ran a little online survey recently. Nothing too fancy, just one of those “I’m curious, let’s see what comes up” kind of things. I wanted to get a feel for what business owners were worried about right now. Would it be rising tariffs? Client spending habits? Financial trends? (You know, the stuff that keeps us up at night when our brains refuse to clock out.)

But you know what surprised me?

It wasn’t the answers I didn’t get. It was what I did.

Over half of the business owners who responded said they don’t celebrate their wins. At all. Cue my dramatic gasp. (My husband is laughing right now, because I am audibly gasping as I write this.)

I’m not even joking. I sat there blinking at the results like, “Wait… what?” 

Because me? I celebrate everything. Land a new client? Caramel macchiato. Hit a milestone? Dinner with my family. Finally tick off the thing that’s been sitting on my to-do list for three weeks? I’m lighting a candle and pretending it’s a spa day with essential oils and epsom salt in the bath. Life is hard enough. We have to make room for the joy too, right?

And honestly, I really thought more women would be celebrating themselves. We’re living in a time where we’re still having to prove ourselves, still working harder just to be seen and heard in certain spaces. So why aren’t we taking a beat to acknowledge when we do make moves?

I can imagine the reasons. Not enough time. It feels silly. You’re already thinking about the next thing on your list. Or maybe you were raised to believe that recognition only comes when everything’s perfect, and it’s never perfect, so the celebration never comes.

Yeah. I’ve been there.

So I decided to shift things a little in my work. Now, when I work with clients, I ask them, “What are we doing to celebrate this win?” And if they shrug or laugh it off or give me the classic, “Oh I don’t know, I don’t really do that,” we pause. We figure it out together. What would feel good? What feels like a meaningful way to say, “Hey, you did that”?

And then I follow up. I become either your best friend or your biggest pain in the ass, depending on how you look at it. But I do it because it matters. Because recognizing what you’ve accomplished is more than just a nice-to-have. It’s about confidence. It’s about reminding yourself that your work is valuable. That you are valuable.

Celebrating your wins helps chip away at old limiting beliefs. The ones that tell you you’re never doing enough or that your success doesn’t count unless someone else notices it. Nope. We don’t do that here.

So if no one’s told you lately: You are doing amazing. Whether you crossed off five things from your list or just finally emailed that person you’ve been avoiding (we’ve all got one), that’s worth acknowledging.

Go ahead. Pick up the caramel macchiato. Light the candle. Call your best friend and do a little happy dance. Whatever your thing is, make it a thing.

Because you, my friend, deserve to celebrate.