By Alina Liao, founder, Zenit Journals

Deep breath in… and release…

I’m taking a moment to celebrate you. No matter how you’re feeling about yourself in this moment, you are worthy of celebrating yourself — your existence, your perseverance, your mind, body, and spirit. As a good friend of mine said, “It takes so much bravery to be alive everyday.”

Celebration is an important part of our mental health, healing, and wellness. Now, I’m not talking about forced positivity, or “turning that frown upside down,” or telling someone who feels depressed “Cheer up, you have so much to be grateful for,” or telling someone who’s struggling, “You’ll be ok — you’re so strong.” As someone on the receiving of those words, I know they can miss the mark.

I’m talking about giving ourselves the credit we deserve. I’m talking about coming back to love for ourselves, for the people in our lives, for our communities, for our cultures, for the earth. When we celebrate, we keep our love alive. We keep our hope alive. We give ourselves some relief. We affirm that we matter.

In our capitalist culture, it can feel like, we only get to celebrate ourselves when we win. Or, we only celebrate what we do and achieve.

To that, I say, No.

Even when you feel not enough, you are worthy of celebrating yourself — celebrating all your effort, your courage, your progress, and all the steps you have taken to get here, wherever you are.

And beyond celebrating what you do, you are worthy of celebrating you for you — for ALL of you, quirks, imperfections, and all. “In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect” (Alice Walker). That includes you too.

With love,
Alina Liao, founder of Zenit
Feel it, write it, Zenit

Join our May 2022 Mini-Retreats, Journal to Celebrate at https://www.zenitjournals.com/collections/virtual-journaling-mini-retreats

Alina is the founder of Zenit, a radical wellness company with the mission to make wellness accessible to everyone. In my Medium blog, I share my journey along the intersection of entrepreneurship and healing. Learn more about our journaling offerings at https://www.zenitjournals.com/. Follow her on Instagram: @zenitjournals.