"Hey, how did your exam go?"
"I guess it was alright."
"That's fine. It was your last one anyway. Let's go out and celebrate then!"
"Why? It's not results time. We will celebrate when I get a good grade."
"What if you are not happy with your grade?" "Then I guess I would not have any reason to celebrate. So we won't."
"I don't think that is how your outlook towards life should be."
And then, I started thinking maybe he was right. Why am I so hard on myself? Isn't it an accomplishment enough that I got through all the exams and finished them? Maybe there are people out there who had to skip an exam, who already knew if they were gonna fail or people who couldn't afford to study in the first place.
In life, many of us do not give ourselves enough credit for all the things we do. We have created a bar so high that until and unless we reach it we do not feel like we achieved something. And even if we do achieve it we just brush it off as a menial milestone achievement and set another one and chase after it. I am not asking you to stop setting up goals. I am just asking you to take a break, breathe deeply and learn to acknowledge the effort and the output with a little self-pampering. Go out for dinner with friends and family or set aside a night for pizza and video gaming or party all night. Enjoy a little. Celebrate the present and the fact about how far you have come.
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