How celebrating ‘small victories’ can help you love life

It’s no secret that life can be overwhelming.

Between working, keeping up with classes, and paying rent, life can easily feel complicated, and the pressure can bog us down. Coping with life’s challenges can feel stressful and make us lose our joy. We may begin to start moving through life more quickly, thinking that we can’t wait until everything that overwhelms us, like work projects and classes, is over.

Thinking this way can make time feel too short.

You blink, and several months have passed. When you rush through the time that you have, just waiting for the end, then time begins to meld together. Weeks fly by, months blur together, and years pass too quickly. But viewing time so broadly causes us to miss the small joys in life, the things that make life worth living.

When time passes and we feel like we still haven’t succeeded, we need to remember that we don’t need to achieve huge things to be happy. We don’t have to cure cancer, walk on the moon, or create multi-million dollar businesses. Trying to reach big accomplishments without experiencing any joy in between can drain us, depress us, and leave us unsatisfied even when we reach our biggest goals.

Sometimes doing something “small” that makes you proud is all that you need to be happy. 

Hitting a new personal record at the gym, doing well on a test, or making your favorite recipe can help your life feel a bit brighter. As long as the “little” things that you do keep you happy and make you feel like you’re making progress, then you can push forward in life. Eventually, after your series of small steps and little joys, you’ll finally achieve your biggest goals.

Celebrating these little victories helps simplify life and can temporarily pull you away from life’s stresses. This approach will help you appreciate your accomplishments, no matter how small.

Of course, eventually, you’ll have to face your stresses, but embracing simple victories will help you cope with larger challenges. Finding joy in small successes helps calm your mind and allows you to experience life with a positive attitude. So break down your biggest goals into smaller pieces, and watch yourself learn to love life again.