by Brittney Lee
Recently, I’ve been reading the book Fight Back with Joy by Margaret Feinberg. In it, she describes the small joyful things in life as joy bombs. Picture these bombs dropping into your life and exploding into happiness. Those bombs are things like a beautiful sunset. The laughter of a friend. Even things like sale on those boots you’ve been eyeing. Any little thing that brings you happiness. I love paying extra attention to these happies and bringing them significance.
One way we do that in our family is to celebrate the happies. Make them bigger deals. Get recognition at work? Celebrate. Make a milestone? Celebrate. Have a half-birthday? Celebrate. Book a fun vacation? Celebrate.
In our first year of marriage, we celebrated the happies by having mini-celebrations each month on our anniversary date. So that meant that each month on the 13th, I brought home a little treat to share. The girls at Rick’s Bakery in Fayetteville got to know me well. I would grab a set of petit fours or a frosted cookie or a couple of donuts. Anything to mark the occasion and celebrate.
Another fun tradition we have is the “You’re Special” plate. I don’t remember where I picked it up, but it brings us much joy. If you come home with a promotion, you get to eat dinner on the “You’re Special” plate. If it’s your half-birthday, out comes the plate. Sometimes special meals are served on the plate. For example, my husband LOVES Buffalo Wild Wings. So one night I picked it up for us for dinner (just because) and served it on the “You’re Special” plate to show him a little extra love.
I think the small things in life deserve celebration. If we save all the honor for big days, the small insignificant happy things get swept under the rug. Instead, I think about how I want to live my life LOUD – and make a fuss about the small things.
I’ve been known to show up to a girls’ night with party hats just because. If someone asks what we’re all celebrating, I respond “Friendship!” And isn’t a beautiful friendship something to celebrate? Or bring noise makers to a child’s basketball game. Make a small thing into a big thing. In high school and college we would buy helium balloons and tie them to friends’ car antennas. They were bursts of joy in ordinary days.
Find a way to celebrate the small things today. You’ll never regret a party – even if it’s an entirely made up occasion.
Brittney is a native Arkansan with a love for bright lights and big city. She often escapes her 20-acre home south of Fort Smith to shop, eat, and catch a concert in the big city. She blogs about her life, her faith, her adventures, her dogs, and her country home at Razorback Britt.