"What you appreciate, appreciates." - Lynne Twist

Why Celebration Feels So Strange

Winter may not always feel like a natural season to celebrate. But between my upcoming birthday this week and my work appraisal last week, these two events have had me thinking a lot about celebration.

Celebrating myself, in fact.

Hear me out…

If you’re the kind of person who has no problem recognising how awesome you are, I am genuinely happy for you. But if the mere idea of celebrating yourself (for longer than a nanosecond) gives you a serious ick… I wonder if you might consider reading on.

Moment of Appraisal

Something happened last week during my yearly GP appraisal. As part of this process, you have to keep any scraps of evidence that help prove you aren’t a complete disaster — patients like you, you work well in a team, etc.

I hadn’t looked at my feedback section in a year, but my appraiser brought something to my attention. He said something that stopped me in my tracks:

“It’s no small thing to receive positive feedback. Take it in. Understand the value you bring. Celebrate it.”

As a GP, reflection (well, analysing your mistakes) is meant to be baked into the job — but receiving positive feedback? That muscle is far less developed.

As I read through each message — the thank-yous from patients, students and colleagues — I found myself asking:

“How much praise do I need to collect to show that I am good enough?
When will I allow myself to be nourished by the truth that others see?”

I realised that sitting with goodness directed at me and for me has always felt uncomfortable… at best unbecoming, at worst arrogant, even anti-British. As if some old part of me — the who-do-you-think-you-are, don’t-be-too-much part — still believes that receiving praise is suspect or dangerous.

This squirming. Where did it come from? Maybe culture. Maybe childhood conditioning that didn’t stop to celebrate the 98% but instead asked, “So what happened to the other 2%?”

Let the Good In

Here’s the thing I keep thinking about:

If we don’t learn to let the good in, we starve the part of us that needs encouragement the most.

If we avoid celebrating ourselves and focus only on our shortcomings, we create an invisible barrier to one of the most essential aims of yoga: seeing ourselves as we actually are.

And I know this can’t just be me.

Instead of thoughts like:

• “Yes, but it wasn’t all down to me…”

• “Thank you for the compliment, but…”

• “It was okay, but I could have done better…”

What if we tried:

• “I did that well.”

• “I had that hard conversation.”

• “I didn’t compare myself this time.”

• “I held a boundary.”

• “I was kind just then.”

It takes practice, but when we do, the wins that matter begin to feel like epic victories.

Feedback Landing

I’d love to share these two tiny excerpts from my own collected feedback because they illustrate something I want you to feel in your own bones:

When someone sees goodness in you, why not try believing them?

From a patient card:

“Thank you for listening in a way that made me feel human again.”

From a yoga student:

“Your classes bring me back to myself every week.”

I’m sharing these not only because they make me look good (yes… owning that a part of me still wants to look good!), but because so often I don’t let words like this land deeply. I swallow them too quickly to taste them, or file them away for my appraisal folder (i.e. proof I’m okay).

No more.

This week, I share them with you with a broad smile, and let the words fill me without embarrassment or self-consciousness. And I celebrate the part of me that can finally receive.

Celebration Is a Skill

So here’s the skill to cultivate at the centre of this:

Celebrate yourself.
Go ahead, try it.

Even if it makes you squirm. Especially if it makes you squirm.

Notice if you have a tendency to let the inner critic overtake your whole narrative. Watch and see — do you need to redress this balance?

If so, celebrate the small wins and subtle shifts. Celebrate every moment you demonstrate to yourself that you are the person you want to be. Celebrate the moment you are less reactive, kinder or more patient — you put the work in to make that happen.

And on the mat, I invite you to explore what it feels like to notice what’s working rather than what’s missing. By training the muscle of celebration, you may even strengthen one of yoga’s fundamental goals — the ability to see yourself clearly.

Ask Yourself: What can I celebrate in this moment?

Let’s practise.