Full Belly book launch
How well do you celebrate your successes?
I wasn’t going to have a launch for Full Belly. It takes a certain amount of organisation and effort, people are busy, and in some ways it seems a little indulgent.
But I was persauded to have a launch after completing a wellbeing survey online. The survey which is part of a worldwide study of wellbeing made me realise that when it comes to looking after my own wellbeing there is one thing I’m really bad at.
I’m really good at setting goals - like writing a book about pregnancy and birth. But I’m terrible at taking the time to reflect and celebrate once the goal has been achieved.
Once I’ve achieved a goal, I tend to do three things:
1. Tick it off the list
2. Think, ‘If I achieved it, it couldn’t have been that difficult’
3. Set another goal
But by doing so, I’m depriving myself of the good positive emotions that come with having identified something I really want to do, working hard to achieve it, and then giving myself a pat on the back.
We often talk about the importance of the ‘journey’ as though it is more important than the ‘outcome’.
But both are important.
And taking the time to reflect, celebrate and enjoy successes is a very important component of wellbeing.
So from now on when I achieve a goal, I’m going to do the following:
1. Tick it off the list
2. Think, ‘If I achieved it, then I’ve done really well!’
3. Find some way to celebrate, however small
4. Set another goal
So we launched Full Belly yesterday. Thank you to everyone who came along and helped celebrate Full Belly!
You’ve helped me on my path to better wellbeing. And I hope Full Belly helps you and others too!
By Jodie Benveniste, director of Parent Wellbeing
We inspire parents to become better people and better parents
Read a free extract of Full Belly: Comfort and inspiration for pregnancy and birth
Buy Full Belly: Comfort and inspiration for pregnancy and birth
