Back in March, I started a note to clients with these words:

We are living in unprecedented times.

I look at that now and I laugh. The snorty kind of laugh.

Accompanied by a voice in my head that sounds a lot like Jeremy Irons and it says:

“Oh honey, you have no idea.”

Ah, the frivolity of March. I’d just returned from a cross-country trip to attend a business retreat in a room with dozens of other people.

March. Before the latest racial justice protests. Before the sad and stunning rise in numbers of COVID infections and deaths.

Before the Iowa derecho, the massive wildfires here in the West, and destructive hurricanes and storms in the south. Before days and days of election tallying. Before blizzards.

Even before the murder hornets (though that one had a silver lining.)

We’ve spent the best part of the year assessing and reassessing our every move, our motives, and our ability to maintain balance in a roiling world.

To that, I say,

Gold star for you!

Seriously. Pause right now. Think of all the ways you’ve kept things working despite “unprecedented times.” Think of the million little shifts and leaps, releases and acknowledgements that got you here. Today. Right now.

Gold star for you!

If you’ve dropped into one of my co-working sessions, that phrase will sound familiar.

At the end of each writing sprint, we share and celebrate what we accomplished in the 45-minutes. I give gold stars, just like you used to get as a kid.

Why? Because there is always so much to do and so little attention given to acknowledging what we have done. We need these pauses. We need these “attaboys.” We need the dopamine rush that comes with completion.

“It’s possible to manipulate your dopamine levels by setting small goals and then accomplishing them.”

Ralph Ryback, M.D., The Science of Accomplishing Your Goals in Psychology Today.

It’s been a year. We’ve made it through. Maybe easily, maybe by the skin of our teeth — but here we are.

Gold star for us all!

“Well Said Wednesday” is a blog by Barbara Govednik, Founder, Content Coach & Message Strategist of 4.23 Communication. It’s published every other Wednesday…ish.