Yes Day
My 21 year old daughter recently reminded me about Yes Day – A holiday I made up when the kids were little. The basic premise of Yes Day is exactly what it sounds like. I had to say Yes to whatever the kids asked for (within reason). My daughter was remembering that her older brother asked if he could push her out the window – clearly that was a no. But ice cream for breakfast – that was a yes! Skip school – yes! Go to the movies and get a giant tub of popcorn – yup! The kids looked forward to Yes Day as if we were headed to Disney World. One of the best parts of Yes Day was that it didn’t just come once a year - it was more willy-nilly than that. The kids would either beg for a Yes Day or more often than not, I would recognize that the family needed some umph – a positive jolt of energy - and then I’d dangle it out a week or two in advance.
Although I made up Yes Day just for fun, I can see now that I stumbled upon something powerful. Two take-aways:
Anticipating something can be a powerful emotion that can help us live happier and healthier lives. The feelings of anticipation are often as good as, and sometimes better than, the actual experience. Thinking and dreaming of an upcoming vacation, for example, is often better than the vacation itself.
As adults, giving ourselves permission to remove judgment from things we enjoy is a gift. Of course, eating ice cream for breakfast isn’t good for you but I would argue that eating the ice cream isn’t nearly as bad for us as the negative self-talk about eating the ice cream.
So, plan some fun things and put them on the calendar. With the pandemic, it’s more important than ever to be intentional about finding things to look forward to. Plan some “guilty pleasures” without the guilt. Who doesn’t want to see on their to do list: Netflix binge watching while eating ice cream out of the container…?