Champagne and Pancakes: Celebrate Good Times

Life flies by, huh? Oh hey, Ruthie here and I’d like to interrupt our normal programming with the UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE CENTURY. Life flies by. It’s so true. So true and so scary sometimes. One minute you are preparing for a huge show or conference that you are convinced is going to change everything for you, and then next thing you know, weeks, months or even years go by. And you stop and wonder, what happened and also how did I get here?

In 2019, we are inundated by so much media it’s unreal. Television commercials, youtube ads, sponsored posts, 15 second instagram stories who’s entire purpose is to feed our short attention spans. (I’m gonna do another post specifically on insta stories at a later date. As far as my business goes I love them, as far as staying present goes, not so much.) It’s so easy to just move onto the next thing, the next day, the next project.

Meanwhile, you are doing amazing things. Yeah, YOU! You are slaying that new work project like a boss, you are training for your first marathon, you are parenting your child like a rockstar, you are writing songs, recording a podcast, or teaching America’s youth. Most of us are genuinely trying to make the lives of those we love better, and by the way, in doing that, we make the world better.

But let me ask you a question. When was the last time you celebrated that? I realize now that there are so many accomplishments that I have just let slip away with barely any notice. For example, a few years ago I had my first music video debut on CMT. A song I wrote with two of my dear friends, Natalie Stovall and Jessica Roadcap, called Dear Dolly was my first ever video to be on CMT and I remember thinking it was so cool when I saw it for the first time! (BTW you can watch it here.) But I also felt a bit off. I think that’s because I know so many people who have videos on CMT. AND they also had songs on country radio, were selling out clubs or theaters, or in general just were accomplishing so much “more” that I had at that moment. And I let my insecurities, or jealousy, or ego if you will, cloud a HUGE accomplishment. And instead of being happy in a moment that I had worked SO hard for, I felt, unfulfilled and unsatisfied. Ugh… How sad is that? Because if you had told my middle school self that I had a vid on CMT, that chick would lose her ever loving mind. Promise.

That’s the thing about using tomorrow as a barometer for happiness. It will always let you down. There will always be something or someone that feels better than what you have if you’re relying on something in the future to fulfill you. I literally have friends who had their first number one song and said they actually felt MORE depressed the next day. It’s a sad trick our egos play on us. And the only way I’m learning to beat it and stay in happiness (or even get into happiness in the first place!!) is to celebrate good times COME ON!

This year I am all about light hearted good timing fun! We are doing good things y’all! We are accomplishing amazing feats all the time! And I’m not exactly sure how it works but all the good in my life can be traced back to the day I decided to be grateful for what I had THAT day, and not keep chasing something to be grateful for tomorrow. So I am certainly not going to take the chance that maybe by not stopping and thanking God or the Universe for every accomplishment, big or small might mean that they stop coming or that I stop feeling grateful and happy.

So celebrate kids. Celebrate! It doesn’t have to be a Caribbean vacation or even a bougie spa day. Pick something that feels special, that feels like a treat, and toast to the amazing beautiful lovely human you are and all that you are accomplishing, and all the love you are adding to this world. For me?! That’s champagne and pancakes.

When my producer Wes and I finished tracking my record that’s all I wanted. I wanted to eat pancakes, one of my absolute favorite cheat meals and a super decadent treat for this Keto gal, and I wanted a glass of damn bubbles to go with it! Ya know, for an proper cheers! We spent a couple weeks putting it off cause we weren’t available at good brunch times and finally I called it and said “That’s it! We’re going to Cracker barrel!!” And I snuck a bottle of the finest champagne you can buy (JK it was like a cheapo $5 bottle!) in my purse and Wes and I cheersed (pretty sure I just made that word up!) over the most delicious sugary maple syrup drenched buttermilk pancakes a girl could dream of. We cheersed to making my dream record, to songs that poured out of my heart and onto tape, to the amazing musicians that lent their talents, to his fantastic production, to the engineers and assistants and everyone at my record label. We cheersed to a freaking job well done. It was fantastic. One of my favorite memories to date.

So stop and smell the pancakes, or the roses or whatever you want. But take time to celebrate. Life flies by so fast and you deserve to relish in the good times when you got em. What do you guys like to do to celebrate? Let me know in the comments!

All my 💖,

Ruthie