Home > Blog > Gratitude > Indulgence Day: Celebrate Yourself This Year

This is not your typical Thanksgiving piece.

Most of what we see this time of year exhorts us to give thanks for things others have done for us, for nature’s bounty and freedom from want, for good fortune that’s been mysteriously bestowed on us, as opposed to achieved. Even worse are all those vague encouragements simply to “be thankful.”

It is altogether fitting and proper to recognize good fortune and the contributions of others to our personal success and happiness, and to be appreciative of the support we receive. We must always be grateful.

I would advance, however, that if you’re doing well – financially, emotionally, in your relationships, or anywhere else in your life – you take at least a moment this Thanksgiving to thank one very special person who has a whole lot more to do with your present state of happiness and fulfillment than anyone else – yourself. Yeah, you. The one reading this right now.

You can have all the encouragement and support in the world and everyone in your corner cheering you on, but it’s up to you to make wise, productive, beneficial choices and to use your gifts to make something of your life.

If you’ve gotten to a place where you’re even reasonably comfortable and happy, give yourself some needed – and probably long overdue – credit.

Be grateful that you are you.

Celebrate your own self.

And indulge your uniqueness.

That’s right, indulge it.

At first glance, it’s hard to find a positive definition of indulgence. Here’s what comes up on Google web definitions:

• an inability to resist the gratification of whims and desires

• a disposition to yield to the wishes of someone; “too much indulgence spoils a child”

• folly: foolish or senseless behavior

And in Catholic theology, indulgences served as a fundraising tool for the church, as sinners who had already received absolution paid pardoners to avoid a layover in purgatory before their flight to heaven.

And yet . . .

What is wrong with gratification? When we find something gratifying, it feels good.

What is wrong with doing something on a whim, if that whim creates a win for you or someone else?

What is wrong with yielding, if yielding is not a forced outcome but a choice?

What is wrong with being foolish in the sense of clowning around to make someone smile?

Ironically, the church’s practice captures the true spirit of indulgence: a release from the expectation of punishment. When we indulge, we’re not concerned about what someone will think of our actions, whether what we’ve written, painted, or produced is good enough, or whether we’ll beat ourselves up later for not resisting, for yielding to the desire to do something different, wondrous, and unexpected.

So this year, I’m rebooting Thanksgiving as Indulgence Day; one of the things I hope you’ll  indulge me with is accepting a new definition of indulgence, one that recognizes how gratifying it is to pursue your dreams without the fear of punishment.

When you stop saying, “I shouldn’t have it because I don’t deserve it”, you start eating at the table with everyone who has figured it out; you just have to bring your own chair.

When you stop denying yourself, you can enjoy the smorgasbord of gratification that life offers when you indulge your creativity, not your fears.

So eat the turkey. Indulge.

Remember that you deserve happiness, success, and fulfillment.

And for goodness sake, have some ice cream with your pie!

Photo Credit: cardamom

Hefty servings of this article originally appeared in the posts Gobble Gobble and Indulgence on Tom Aplomb.