12 Simple ways to celebrate yourself without spending a dime
The antidote to being exhausted: Celebrate yourself
You're working extremely hard to make your goals and dreams happen.
Even though you love what you do, you're exhausted.
You're often hard on yourself because you feel like you should be further ahead or doing more.
When someone says, “Take a break,” you don't even know what you would even do with that break.
If you’re feeling any of these things I just listed above…I see and hear you.
You are working really hard trying to do what you might feel is enough, but is really the job of like 5 people.
In this blog, I'm going to share with you why celebrating yourself is so important and some ideas on how to reward yourself so you can stop downplaying your strengths and achievements, and feel your best.
It's time to celebrate how amazing you already are!
Why celebrating yourself is key to success
We live in such a fast-paced society, and we are taught from when we're kids in school all the way until we retire to get as much stuff done as we possibly can. When we care more about the number of tasks done, it’s easy to minimize what gets done and our efforts. That's why the conversation around burnout has become so loud.
When you only think about what's next, your goals, and the future, you deplete yourself.
When you’re depleted you’re not your best. It’s difficult to be productive, creative, and thoughtful when you’re drained.
How do you remedy this?
Since you’re here, you can guess: Celebrating yourself.
When you celebrate yourself for the things you do get done, you’ll have more energy, motivation, and momentum allowing you to achieve your goals much faster (and easier).
When you reward yourself, you're building your self-accountability muscle helping you follow through easier and procrastinate less.
When you pause and acknowledge yourself, your confidence and self-worth grow.
The result? Feeling fulfilled and content.
How to reward yourself without spending a dime
One common misconception I hear is that people believe they must spend money on themselves in order to celebrate and reward themselves. They think of going to a spa, going out to a fancy dinner, going online shopping, or even going to a store.
What happens when you don’t have the extra funds or time in your budget to do those things? You feel like you can’t celebrate yourself.
While there's nothing wrong with spending money on yourself, it’s extremely important to me to make acknowledging yourself more accessible.
Here we go!
1. Pat yourself on the back
Literally. In the past when I’ve finished a small task, I will pat myself on the back, give myself a high five, or someone else who’s around me. (Usually my husband)
2. Be your own cheerleader
Stand up and celebrate, cheer, shimmy, dance, or do anything that feels really good to just give yourself that energy.
3. Verbalize it
You can verbally tell yourself, “good job,” “way to go!” “hell yeah, (insert your name)” out loud or in your head. You can say anything that feels good and celebratory.
4. Share it with someone (or yourself)
Text or call a loved one to share something that you are proud of yourself for doing. You can also just write it down on a piece of paper.
I used to use my paper planner as a have-done list, where instead of all the things I wanted to get done, I wrote down everything I did.
5. The beloved bath
Take a luxurious celebratory bubble bath, of course, if you have a bathtub. Think: How can I make this bath feel like a luxury spa treatment? Oils, candles, music, tech-free, flowers, herbs.
6. Pick yourself a wildflower bouquet
Go for a walk, pick flowers and bring a little flower wildflower bouquet home to yourself.
7. Soak in nature
Grab a blanket, lay outside, cloud watch, and enjoy the weather. If it’s not sunny, run around in the rain.
8. At-home spa day
Take inventory of the things you already have at home that would make a nice at-home spa day (also, see the beloved bath above). You could: Paint your nails, give yourself a facial, and if you have one willing, get a partner to give you a massage.
9. Look in a mirror
Check yourself out in a mirror and say something meaningful or silly: “You go!!!” or “Damn, I'm fine!”
10. Have fun in the kitchen
If you like baking or cooking… check your inventory and bake something that you’re in the mood for.
11. Pass it forward
Being of service is one of those things that feels really good to my soul while making a difference in my community. Volunteer or give back to an organization you care about.
12. Permission to be “lazy”
Give yourself some guilt-free trash TV Netflix, scrolling Insta/Tik Tok time, or a delicious nap. Taking time off might feel extra challenging, read more about why you feel guilty here.
Wondering which idea to pick, or didn’t find something for you?
You can come up with your own way to celebrate yourself because the ideas are truly endless.
Pause, tune out the noise, and ask yourself, “What would feel joyful, energized, and really good to my soul?”
That’s your answer!
Once you have an idea of what feels good to you, open a note on your phone or take out a post-it note at your desk and write them down to easily come back to.
Caution! It can be easy to fall into the trap of toxic productivity with your rewards.
A lot of time, people think, “I want to clean the house, I want to weed the garden, etc.” While those are amazing to get done… Does your inner self really want to do the dishes? Go outside and mulch? Maybe! So make sure to check in with yourself first.
When (and how to actually) celebrate yourself
Another common misconception is that you have to wait until the very end of your project. For example, if you're building a website, it took me months and months and months to build my website and I felt like I couldn't celebrate myself until the entire big website was launched and ready to go.
That's not true! You don't have to wait until the end of big projects. In fact, the more you celebrate the small milestones, the more motivated and energized you’ll be.
Celebrating yourself can be a daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly, or intuitive practice.
In terms.of making sure I actually celebrate myself, I schedule time in my calendar. At the end of each day, I have an event to review what I did as well as at the end of each week to do a more thorough review.
So I’m curious: What frequency would feel appropriate to you? How might you make celebrating yourself a priority?
Let me know in the comments below!