Episode 19
Don’t Know How to Celebrate Yourself? It's Okay If It Feels Uncomfortable
Celebrating others often comes naturally. But when it comes to our own wins – even the big ones – we tend to downplay them, skip over them, or move straight to the next task on the list.
This short reflection explores why it can feel awkward or even selfish to celebrate ourselves – and why it’s still worth doing.
Acknowledging your growth, your effort, and your resilience isn’t arrogance.
It’s self-recognition.
And it matters.
If you’ve ever struggled to pause and say, “I did that,” this is your permission slip to try – even if it feels uncomfortable.
Transcript
00:06
Hey, this is It's Okay If, bite-sized permission slips. I'm Matt Gilhooly, and today's permission, it's okay if you don't know how to celebrate yourself. This is one that I still wrestle with. It's hard. I'm really good at celebrating other people, their wins, their milestones, their moments that feel big and important. But when it comes to my own, yeah, I tend to most of the time brush past them, or I tell myself, okay, cool.
00:36
ast won Best Indie Podcast of:01:06
Because somewhere along the way we've learned that celebrating ourselves felt awkward? Selfish? Like if we celebrated we might look maybe arrogant? But what if celebrating yourself isn't about ego? What if it's about honoring the fact that you did something hard? That you made it through something others might not have seen? That you showed up when showing up was the hardest thing? So today, if celebrating yourself feels weird, if it feels awkward, that's okay.
01:36
You can still practice. You can still pause and let yourself say, look at me, I did that. So if you're up for it, tell yourself, I give myself permission to celebrate, even if it feels uncomfortable, even if I have to practice. That's your permission slip, friend. Tuck it in your pocket and I'll see you next time.
