This blog post was originally a transcript from a podcast recording. Listen to the full episode below. Subscribe today!
“Each day holds a surprise. But only if we expect it can we see, hear, or feel it when it comes to us. Let’s not be afraid to receive each day’s surprise, whether it comes to us as sorrow or as joy. It will open a new place in our hearts, a place where we can welcome new friends and celebrate more fully our shared humanity.”
The Joy of Celebration
Well hello beautiful friends! How are you doing this week? Let's start today with a one-word check-in. In just one word how are you feeling? I like to do this exercise from time to time because women like us, who are busy and running around wearing many different hats, often don't slow down long enough to check in with themselves and ask themselves how they’re feeling.
So take a moment - take a deep breath and think about one word to describe how you're feeling. And if you're not too experienced with this exercise, the first emotions that come to mind might just be happy, sad, mad, or glad - those are all great ways to describe your emotions. But as you start practicing describing your emotions with one word, you'll begin to use more descriptive and accurate terms that describe how you're feeling. More descriptive adjectives like frustrated, elated, relaxed, overwhelmed. You got the idea. So, in one word - how are you feeling?
Today I'm feeling glamorous. And this is a really fun one to feel because I don't feel it too often especially now that we're working from home most days and not really showing off our beautiful wardrobes in the office. But the big news for me coming up is that this weekend Jordan and I are actually getting married! It's going to be a very small and intimate wedding, with just our immediate family, due to COVID, but we are both super excited all the same.
So in preparation for the wedding I've been stepping up my beauty game this week and today, I went to the nail salon and got some gorgeous wedding-worthy nails. If you want to see my nails, check it out in my highlight reel on my Instagram. And on a side note, if you're not following me on Instagram, let's get connected! You can connect with me @thejetsetblonde.
This week and today in particular I'm feeling especially glamorous. I love that feeling when I know I’m put together from head to toe. I’m not doing it for vanity or for someone else - I’m doing it for me - because of how it makes me feel. When I’m feeling stylish and just got my nails done or my hair blown out, I instantly get an extra pep in my step. I can feel my spine lengthen as my posture straightens. It brings confidence to my communication. It brings gratitude to the forefront.
When was the last time you felt glamorous? If the answer is, “It's been a while,” I want you to schedule a date night for yourself. It doesn't matter if you're the only one on this date. Some of my favorite dates have been nights where I've taken myself out. But pick a day, maybe this Saturday, where you are going to get dressed up and celebrate something amazing in your life. In fact, at 5:30 PM this Saturday evening, I’ll be saying, “I do,” to the love of my life, so if you want to look at the clock and raise a glass in celebration with me, I would love your well wishes.
So in the spirit of my upcoming nuptials and many other beautiful moments that life brings us, I wanted to discuss with you the importance and the joy of celebration.
What can you celebrate today?
I’ll start by asking you a question - what do you want to celebrate today? What is something going well for you right now? What’s something that’s beautiful in your life right now?
Aside from my upcoming wedding, which I’m of course celebrating, I’ve been daily celebrating the absolutely stunning fall weather that we’ve been having this week in Dallas. It’s been the perfect temperature - sunny, breezy days and cool, crisp nights.
I’m also celebrating that some of my clients have recently finished their time in my online workshop, Vision Voyage, and I just have to share what one client, Sara, shared - “Thank you Brittany for all the support. I felt like I had a personal coach the whole time! I really benefited from the section about overcoming overwhelm, managing emotions and planning for turbulence. I've seen great progress in my thoughts as I work toward my goals. Thank you for motivating me on my journey to my first class self.”
Let me just pause to say, Sara - I couldn’t be more thrilled for you and proud of you! Your future first class self is thanking you for all the progress you’ve made in just 30 days. I am so honored that I could be a part of your growth and journey. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for you as you continue to succeed and make your dreams a reality.
So needless to say, I’m brimming with things and people and life events to celebrate this week.
For starters, let's talk about my general philosophy on celebrations. I believe that there is always a reason to celebrate. There's always something in your life that you can celebrate. On a daily basis I try to find opportunities to celebrate and either give thanks or give myself a pat on my back. Now I'm not saying that we need to be popping champagne bottles every night, but taking time to celebrate life reminds me how fortunate I am to be experiencing it in general. Life - the highs, the lows, the exciting times and the quiet times.
I know all you high-achieving ladies out there are going to relate to this one.
For recovered perfectionists like me, celebrating important moments in life can actually take some work. And I know you're thinking, “Oh sounds real tough Brittany,” but what I mean by that is that if you’re someone who’s high achieving, you likely will find successes a regular thing.
For many people something like getting a new job would be an incredible moment to celebrate and it is absolutely celebration-worthy. But as I started a new job this year, I didn’t really slow down to do anything to commemorate the moment. We get so used to achieving that we don't even realize when we've done something extraordinary that should be celebrated.
And if you guys think I'm high-achieving, you should meet my fiancé Jordan. He is one of the most hard working people I’ve ever met. I'll give you an example. About 2 years ago, Jordan and I bought our first house together and needless to say this was a special and exciting moment for both of us. But on the day we moved in, Jordan was all business - let's unpack those boxes, get things on shelves, and get moved in. No he wasn't wrong. We absolutely needed to unpack boxes and put things on shelves and get things organized. But before we did that I said, “No let's stop and pop open a bottle of champagne and cheers to this amazing thing that we've accomplished together.” Jordan of course agreed, but if I hadn't said that, we might have completely moved in and never even stopped long enough to appreciate a big milestone in our relationship.
So we all need to celebrate more. Slow down and recognize your achievements. Recognize your blessings. Why? Because the energy around celebration is so contagiously joyful and full of positivity. Those are the types of high vibrations that I want to be tapping into on a regular basis.
Focus on the joy that celebration brings. Focus on the energy that it brings.
You see, the more you celebrate life, the more life celebrates you back.
Does your environment support celebration?
So we’ve talked about the importance of celebrating more in your life, but now we also need to look at your environment. Are your surroundings supporting a life of celebration?
I learned at a young age to surround myself with people who celebrate life. My mom was a teacher - she still is a teacher in fact. She teaches Pre-K students - 4 years old turning 5. I don’t know how she has the patience or the energy, but she is hands-down the most incredible Pre-K teacher I’ve ever seen in action. And I’m not just saying that because she’s my mom. But I digress. Years ago, I was probably in middle school, and I remember my mom telling me that one of the teachers that she used to work with was so negative. She was always complaining about the school environment, her personal life, politics, her students - really everything. And she noticed that it was starting to affect her everyday too.
Complaining and negativity can be very damaging in our lives - whether it’s coming from you or someone in your environment. This pulls us away from what we want most in life - to be happy, to feel good, to feel joyful.
I remember that my mom had to make a very tough decision when she realized how this negativity was affecting her. She decided to start distancing herself from that work colleague, which is logistically not easy to do, nor is it emotionally easy to do. Sometimes we have to love people from afar. But it doesn’t feel good, being around that negative energy. And if we’re not careful, we can actually become so used to the negativity that it becomes our everyday state of being.
When we complain, we focus on that energy - what’s wrong, what’s broken, what’s lacking. And what we focus on grows.
Then we get used to being in a negative state, and it starts to feel comfortable because it’s familiar. And our brain likes staying with what’s familiar and known. Our brain doesn’t like to feel uncomfortable, so we must focus on breaking down that addiction to negativity. And in its place, we need to create a more healthy addiction or natural state of being toward positivity.
And celebrating sincerely and often is a great way to start doing this. Living a jet set life is all about how to learn to live with more passion, more beauty, more excitement, and more joy. All of the positive things that life can offer. And the first step in living a life more fulfilled is to bring awareness to it.
Are you aware of the conversations you have? Are you aware of the media you intake? Are you aware of the people you surround yourself with? Are you aware of the people you follow on social media?
We need to become aware of these things because they all can affect our levels of joy and gratitude, either positively or negatively. And this may mean that we have to make tough decisions. But only you have the power to change your energetic state. You are responsible for creating the kind of vibrations and energy that you want in life. Don’t blame your friends, or your partner, or politics, or even the pandemic. You are responsible for your joy.
Which is actually a good thing, right? Because if my own joy and happiness depends on things outside of myself, I’d be in big trouble. We’d all be in big trouble. So it’s a good thing that we have the power to create our desired state of being.
But I can hear you saying, “But Brittany, there’s so much hate and fear and sadness in the world.” And yes, you’re right. I’m not saying that you should live in complete denial and pretend like everything’s unicorns and roses. But what good is it going to do you by commiserating over these things? Unless you are preparing to take real action on these items, complaining about them is not going to help. It’s just going to put you in a negative headspace and at the end of the day, the only one that’s going to suffer from all your complaining is you.
Furthermore, since there is so much hate and fear and sadness in the world, why would you want to contribute more to that energy? Why would you want to live in that energy when you can bring more light and joy into the world instead? I think we can all agree that the world needs more joy and celebration and gratitude, now more than ever.
We have a choice - we can climb to the mountaintop and enjoy the incredible view from that elevation or we can be stuck complaining in the valley. And it may be tempting to try and drag your friends and family along with you through the valley to the mountaintop, but this is your journey to joy and sometimes we have to let others find their own way up the mountain.
So you see, when we celebrate - sincerely and often - we are training our brain to continuously see the good and the beautiful in the world. Little by little, we start to look for the celebrations. And like I said before, there will always be something to celebrate. It could be big like a wedding or small like getting out of the house and walking around the block. It doesn’t matter. Celebrate it.
Because what you’re doing when you celebrate is focusing on the blessings in your life. And when we do that, we train our brains to start vibing on a higher energy level - one of positivity and joy.
Every single one of you has something to celebrate. Even in the darkest and hardest of years, like this one has been for many, there is still something to celebrate. In fact, I would argue that this is when we need to be celebrating the most. When times are hard and confusing, we need to deliberately look for the celebrations in our life.
As many of you know, I lost my job earlier this year, due to the pandemic. I had just started an amazing new job at American Airlines and I was on cloud 9. But then it all came abruptly to a halt. But I didn’t stop celebrating. If I had a job interview, I celebrated. If I Facetimed with my family, I celebrated. I celebrated the ability to collect on unemployment. I celebrated the opportunity to learn a new skill while I was in quarantine - which in my case was podcasting. And if I got a rejection email, I celebrated for my future self for landing a job that would be the perfect fit for me.
So are you ready to start celebrating your life every day? The beauty in celebrating the little things in addition to the big ones is that you start to realize how many joys we actually have in a normal day. And that’s what starts to make life magical.
Stop Delaying Your Happiness
I no longer subscribe to the idea that we have to hustle and grind without any enjoyment or joy until we reach the end of our goal. It creates a false sense that we can’t enjoy our life today until something happens. I can’t be happy until I lose the weight. I can’t be happy until I publish that book. I can’t be happy until I make $100k a year.
Stop that. Stop subscribing to that. Life’s too short to throw yourself into a constant cycle of denying yourself happiness. No more, “I’ll be happy when,....” Believe me - I’ve been on that hamster wheel and it’s exhausting. And it stripped so much joy from my life.
Set goals because you are excited to grow. Set goals because you’re excited to see what’s possible in your lifetime. But don’t set goals to be happy.
The way that you stop delaying your happiness is to start celebrating everyday. You’ll start seeing more and more blessings in your life. And then, the crazy thing is, you’ll actually start seeing advances in what you want in life. Because you’re creating from a new headspace. You’re creating from a place of positivity. And the Universe returns the favor. The more you celebrate life, the more life celebrates you back.
Start celebrating life right where you are and find a community to celebrate with. It could be your friends or your family, but if you feel like you don’t have a community to celebrate with, look at an online community.
I’m personally so proud of the Jet Set Society community that I’m growing right now. This is an online community of explorers and achievers who are passionate about getting into the world to experience everything that life has to offer. Although it’s a diverse group, it’s a community of like-minded women who inspire and elevate your everyday. We support each other, cheer on each other, and help each other. If you’re interested in joining, it’s completely free - sign up here!
So today, I invite you to a celebration of your life. Tap into your positive energy, get out some champagne or sparkling water, and give a cheers to your past, present, and future. And I’d love to know what you are celebrating - I’d be honored if you included me by taking a picture, sharing it on Instagram and tagging me. Let me know how it’s going! I’d love to be a part of your celebration.
In celebration,
author
Known as The Jet Set Blonde, Brittany Ryan inspires others to add more adventure to their childfree travel experiences. Brittany has visited 23 countries (and counting!) Connect with her to get access to detailed childfree travel itineraries, travel guides for weekend getaways, and updates on adult-only hotels, resorts, cruises, and other travel amenities.
