Celebrating life's very small accomplishments

I have a friend with an autistic son. He went away to a special school, and of course she was quite worried about him. When he came home from the first break, he showed her his cell phone and the fact that he now had a friend listed there, with a phone number. She was overjoyed for him and so very proud of this accomplishment.
In life, we often look at the highest achievers to compare ourselves to, our society tends to focus on the winners in our culture of celebrity; the gold medal Olympic athletes, the Hollywood superstars, the mega millionaires . . . .

When we say "I wrote a book" it feels like it is not an achievement unless we can add the words "and it sold ten thousand copies!" I am here to remind us all that each small accomplishment in our lives is wonderful. That sometimes just getting up to face the difficult tasks of the day is a glorious achievement.

I was sharing last night in a group that I have been feeling very unruddered lately, unsure of my next step, not clear in my personal path right now, and how that makes me feel so unaccomplished. Thinking more about why I feel this way, I realize I've been caught up in our competitive society's thinking that unless we are at the top, we are nowhere.

Phooey to that.
I am going to choose not to get caught up in the whirlwind of defining success by the media's terms. I am so impressed by Olympic athletes, amazed at the hard work of best-selling authors, interested in those people who make statements the whole world can hear.
But I am equally proud of a differently-abled person who manages to get his very first friend listed on his cell phone.  He deserves a medal, too.

“There is a candle in your heart, ready to be kindled.
There is a void in your soul, ready to be filled.
You feel it, don't you?”
--Rumi