Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to throw your own party. If you have
Speaker 1: something good happening in your life, use it as an
Speaker 1: occasion to bring people together to celebrate special occasions deserve
Speaker 1: to be marked, and the best way to make sure
Speaker 1: something happens is to do it yourself. As a child,
Speaker 1: you may have celebrated your birthday with friends every year.
Speaker 1: As an adult, we tend not to do that, and
Speaker 1: perhaps that's whise. Maybe we don't always feel like celebrating
Speaker 1: forty three trips around the sun. However, one of the
Speaker 1: reasons that adulthood tends to feature a lot of sameness
Speaker 1: day after day, year after year, is that we don't
Speaker 1: mark occasions. There is perhaps a wedding, and then not much.
Speaker 1: And that's too bad, because bringing people together to celebrate
Speaker 1: good things is one of the most pleasurable things we
Speaker 1: can do. And I say that as someone who is
Speaker 1: fairly introverted. There is a world of difference between a
Speaker 1: networking cocktail party where I don't know anyone and a
Speaker 1: gathering at a restaurant with twenty people I do know
Speaker 1: who are all toasting a book release. So for at
Speaker 1: least a few of my books, I've tried to do
Speaker 1: the latter, and it's been great. I remember those nights
Speaker 1: years into the future, which is not something I can
Speaker 1: say about a great many days during those forty three
Speaker 1: trips around the sun. So think about things in your
Speaker 1: life that might be worth celebrating. Maybe you've been promoted,
Speaker 1: maybe you bought a house, maybe you paid off a house.
Speaker 1: Maybe you decided to leave a job and start working
Speaker 1: for yourself. Maybe you and your partner have been to
Speaker 1: gather for fifteen years. Or maybe you see one of
Speaker 1: these things or something similar coming up in your future.
Speaker 1: If so, think about how you might throw yourself a party.
Speaker 1: It doesn't have to be huge or an expensive ordeal.
Speaker 1: Six to eight good friends around a table in a
Speaker 1: restaurant can be a very manageable number. Or you could
Speaker 1: cook something crowd pleasing and gather people at your house.
Speaker 1: A big pot of chili and some good bread can
Speaker 1: be celebratory. Hot dogs on a grill plus corn on
Speaker 1: the cob feels festive and summary. Or do a breakfast
Speaker 1: an egg dish, some fruit and muffins from a nearby
Speaker 1: bakery is perfectly elegant and simple to pull off. You
Speaker 1: can also make the gathering short. One of my favorite
Speaker 1: takeaways from the covid era was the possibility of a
Speaker 1: zoom celebration. Yes, yes, I know it's not perfect, but
Speaker 1: the good ones featured a short tribute and toast, maybe
Speaker 1: a few games cahoots about the person being celebrated, and
Speaker 1: then everyone signs off. Feel free to throw yourself a
Speaker 1: zoom toast if you think that would be easier for
Speaker 1: your far flung friends or local ones with busy schedules.
Speaker 1: But on the other hand, don't feel bad about asking
Speaker 1: people to take an hour or two to come celebrate you.
Speaker 1: Many people enjoy seeing other people but don't necessarily have
Speaker 1: the bandwidth to organize much. If they don't want to come,
Speaker 1: they will say no, but the odds are good that
Speaker 1: they will be happy to have a reason to go
Speaker 1: to something. Think of it this way. Would you feel
Speaker 1: put out if a good friend asked you to come
Speaker 1: raise a glass to celebrate her earning her master's degree.
Speaker 1: If anything, you would probably jump in and ask to
Speaker 1: help organize the event. Now that she has put it
Speaker 1: out into the universe as a possibility, your friends will
Speaker 1: feel the same way about you. I imagine many of
Speaker 1: us see the upside of celebrating milestones, but we might
Speaker 1: also harbor some vague hope that someone else will initiate
Speaker 1: the planning and it could happen. But everyone is busy,
Speaker 1: no matter how much everyone loves you. And I include
Speaker 1: your spouse in this statement, Hinging your happiness on someone
Speaker 1: else's actions is a risky strategy. If you would like
Speaker 1: to celebrate something, plan it yourself. Most likely people will
Speaker 1: assist you in various ways. But if you plan it yourself,
Speaker 1: you know it will happen, and so you'll be able
Speaker 1: to look forward to it. Life is worth celebrating. Life
Speaker 1: is wonderful, and life is ultimately fleeting. So throw yourself
Speaker 1: a party when you've got an occasion that seems to
Speaker 1: call for it. You will probably not be looking back
Speaker 1: on your life someday and saying, well, I wish I
Speaker 1: hadn't gotten friends together to celebrate that new job. I
Speaker 1: wish we hadn't brought people together to toast paying off
Speaker 1: the mortgage. Wasn't it good? We saved our energy? You
Speaker 1: won't be saying that, because really, what are you saving
Speaker 1: your energy? Four In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod.
Speaker 1: That's b E the number four then Breakfast pod. You
Speaker 1: can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast Podcasts
Speaker 1: at iHeartMedia dot com That Before Breakfast is spelled out
Speaker 1: with all the letters. Thanks so much. Should I look
Speaker 1: forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production
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