Celebration is often more difficult to observe than acknowledgements of failings. We always know when we mess up or fall short, but even when we are celebrated we tend to dh yahweh from the attention, act with excessive humility, and undervalue those moments of joy in our lives, especially if those celebrations are not of a specific instance of success. One such celebration that often gets overlooked at times is the birthday. No, this isn’t specific to creativity, but I think we can draw some parallels and lessons from how we celebrate moments in our lives and engage with joy to how we allow ourselves to engage with and celebrate our creativity.
My family has always made a big deal about birthdays. They are celebrated on the day with family dinner, cake, and gifts, and as kids, was celebrated with friends over for a party masterfully run by my mom. From the time we woke up until our head hit the pillow that night we were made ot special, valued, celebrated, even when real life was still happening. We never took the day off, but we always felt that spark of joy, we were gifted that spark. I know many families, many people, who do not value birthdays in this same way. They don’t celebrate or hold the ideology that being born, something that happened to you is not something to be celebrated; after all, you didn’t actually do anything. This is where I believe society has gone wrong; the idea that we should only celebrate people for their successes, accomplishments, acts, and at that, only those that are quantifiable and valued by capitalist cultural norms.
We wonder why the arts are undervalued while being necessary. We wonder why people feel failure so acutely and success so fleetingly. We wonder why human beings we know and love feel worthless. This is why. We did not value and celebrate them for showing up, for simply being who they are, for just being them. No, I don’t believe in the participation ribbon culture, or the idea that everyone is a winner, or that the bare minimum should be rewarded with accolades and acknowledgements because we all need something to strive for. In terms of performance we all need to understand that sometimes our best isn’t good enough, but that does not mean that we are not enough. And in those rare cases where our behaviour is insufficient, we need to know that we can do better, but that we are still valued by someone, anyone.
All this to say, we need to get better at celebrating when we feel joy. Birthdays are the perfect example. If we are happy that someone is in our lives, that they exist in the world, that we get to know them, we need to celebrate their birthday. Your birthday is a celebration of your existence. You existing is enough of a reason to feel joy. Feeling joy is reason enough to celebrate. Not because you did anything or achieved anything, but because you are you. When we engage in this kind of pure joy we open ourselves up to possibility.
This past weekend was my twenty-eighth birthday and the last one before I become a mother. My incredible husband planned a whole event for me, a night out to Toonto to see Aladdin live at the Princess of Wales Theater, and kept it a complete surprise! For him to plan and prepare and surprise me with a whole event, and an incredible one at that just to celebrate me being alive and on this earth with him is such a joyful and validating expression of love. I am enough. Celebrating me for simply existing. The very next day we spent the evening with my family and had a wonderful dinner from one of my favourite restaurants and I received several thoughtful gifts - from exclusive Harry Potter POP figures to a colour your own puzzles. I’m not saying you have to spend money or plan a big event to celebrate someone or something, however, letting someone know that they are valued, that you celebrate them for being in this world and part of your life, that they alone are enough of a reason to be joyful is everything.
These moments of celebration aren’t reserved for birthdays. These moments of celebration are harbingers of joy, and joy is a seed of inspiration, of creative spark. Sometimes you find that celebratory joy in the act of creating. Not only do we need to celebrate to fuel creativity, we need to celebrate our creativity.
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