Pause to Celebrate

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“Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until becomes a memory.” – Dr. Seuss

The first time I summitted a mountain, 14,411 foot Mt. Rainier, I was too cold to stand around and celebrate. I huddled with about five other climbers in the lee of some rocks waiting for the rest of the group to be ready to start the descent.

For the big summits I’ve stood on, that first one was the most uncomfortable, but none have been particularly pleasant.

I was thinking about this recently after we finished a big work project. The feeling upon a successful completion wasn’t that we were ready to celebrate – but that we were collectively exhausted.

Putting it together with mountain climbing, I realized that often, success feels like exhaustion. That applies to growth too. It’s only in retrospect that I can feel or recognize that something remarkable is finished.

Of course, the really good and experienced climbers that I climbed with would always say “Climbing is a round trip sport.” But even when we finished our round trip and went to the pub afterwards, we’d toast the summit, and quickly move on to spending most of the time talking about what we were going to do next.

Sometimes, we just need to take a pause to celebrate. Like now. Even on a Monday. If nothing else, we deserve a moment of applause for just showing up. Happy Monday!

I’ve written a post about recognizing our courage on the Heart of the Matter blog: We’ll Call it Courage Anyway

46 thoughts on “Pause to Celebrate”

  1. Pingback: We’ll Call it Courage Anyway – The Heart of the Matter

  3. I like this post, Wynne. One of the things I tried to do more of at work this year is to institute a project lessons learned at the end – to celebrate and recognize the work achieved, to give people a safe space to talk about what worked well and what didn’t and what the lessons learned are. It’s a good way to pause, reflect and celebrate. Because I agree with you, often times in life, home or work, we move on so quickly from one thing to another without taking the time to celebrate the ascent we’ve made.

    Hope the week ahead is a good one for you all. Enjoy Halloween!

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  4. Congrats on summitting Mt. Rainier and other mountains! That’s a great — and cold-looking! — photo. And you make a really good point about taking moments to celebrate. Reflecting on progress can be a boost of positivity. Long projects can sometimes feel like they’ll never be finished. So it’s helpful to take stops along the way to catch your breath and see how far you’ve traveled. Thanks for posting about this 🙂

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    2. I like this advice! Not only to celebrate at the end but to find moments along the way to catch our breath and to give ourselves a boost.

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  5. I reached a summit last week that … I’d thought would feel fantastic, but which I experienced as exhaustion and even a little confusion. What next? To see those moments through the bigger-picture lens of this post, with the moments still so fresh in memory? I’m definitely picking up what you’re laying down, and may use today to experience the celebration I didn’t know to make then. Thanks!

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  6. I don’t know that I do this at all…but I take from this lovely post a hint that perhaps it is more important to look at each moment in life as something special instead of focusing only on the big events and then feeling propelled to seek the next big thing… Anything can be a big event, ie a special, recognizable moment, if we allow it to be with an attitude of gratitude 😉

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  8. So true! Isn’t it interest how easily and naturally we start planning ahead, without the pause to celebrate what we’re accomplished? That pause and reflection doesn’t come naturally to me, but it’s a skill I’ve been cultivating… there so much goodness at the summit if we simply pause and take it all in. 🙂

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  10. I’m fascinated by this. You’ve just summited Mt Rainer and you don’t get to celebrate. I imagine it’s something like this: “Damn, this is cold. Okay, that’s a nice view. Let’s take a very quick picture, got it, okay we’re done here, time to move, last one down the mountain is a rotten egg.” Ha ha. Okay maybe it’s not quite how it went. You bring up great points though. In change mgmt, I’ve really started focusing on planning for the small celebrations along the way so that the exhaustion at the end is one of happiness and not anger and fatigue. It’s so so important!!!!!🏔️🏔️🏔️

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  12. I’m with Brian, I’m struggling to think of examples of major accomplishments analogous to conquering a major summit where we’ve been too exhausted to celebrate, either on our own behalf or on behalf of our kids, friends, or students. But I see what you mean. When your team or your kid’s team wins a game, you can celebrate right away. When your student passes a course he had struggled with, you can celebrate right away. Perhaps when we’ve finished long races we’ve been too exhausted to celebrate too much before collapsing, but we knew we had successfully finished. If we’d had to walk (or run) all the way back in the other direction, you’re right, we definitely wouldn’t have felt like celebrating!! It’s an excellent point to make sure to take the time to appreciate and celebrate every success in life.

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  14. I think once a mountain climber, always a mountain climber, it becomes the way in which you summit life. Watching a mountain climber tackle life always appears extreme. I watch you Wynne and I think how does she do it? There’s no time to catch your breath, she’s managing twelve things at once, and she just keeps ascending. You’re doing great, and it’s only Monday, I’ll just meet you at the pub! Hugs, C

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  15. I’ve never climbed a mountain but it’s interesting that, in many areas of life, we want to quickly move on to the next challenge intead of pausing to celebrate what we’ve accomplished. In the workplace, we need to make a point of celebrating our successes and showing gratitude to our co-workers. If we don’t consciously plan for it, it won’t happen.

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  16. I like this Wynne – If nothing else, we deserve a moment of applause for just showing up. Even more than that, we deserve a moment of applause every day that can also be our moment of gratitude.

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  18. What a thought-provoking reflection Wynne, and the Dr. Seuss quote you shared couldn’t be more fitting.
    Acknowledging the courage and effort it takes to show up and give your best is an important act of self-appreciation.

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  21. Without having summited anything higher than a hill, I recognise myself in your story and your thoughts. I am used to working alone on books and other projects, to rushing so fast and so enthusiastically towards the next project that I don’t stop to feel the glow of accomplishment. Other people get excited and they want to celebrate with me bur I find it hard to accept that I have just done something wonderful. That seems wrong, doesn’t it? I want to change this. Your blog post has just the right tone to get through to me. So thank you! And all your readers, who underline the effect with their own thoughtful comments.

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    1. Oh, Rachel, what an insightful comment. Enthusiasm for the next thing is a great thing, isn’t it? But seeing the other side is important too. I’m glad my post resonated in just the right way for you! Cheers for all you’ve done!

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  22. “success feels like exhaustion”….Oh, does this resonate with me right now! So many times it takes some space from a big accomplishment for me to be able to bask in the success of it. Achieving that ‘summit’ has taken so much work, that celebrating for me looks more like a nap! 💞

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