From Sick to Success

Me—today. Smiling despite my sick misery. SUCCESS!

December 13, 2025

One of the most important lessons I learned from my coach, Lisa, was the significance of celebrating our successes—both the big accomplishments and the micro wins of daily life.

This mattered deeply to me because I had a long-standing habit of powering through life: work, responsibility, and massive projects stacked one after another, without ever stopping to acknowledge what I had actually done. I was excellent at doing, accomplishing, moving on to the next thing—and then mentally cataloging all the ways I could have done it better or differently.

Taking time to intentionally stop and recognize my successes helped quiet my inner critic and that persistent feeling that I was never doing enough.

I loved this practice so much that I taught it to my assistant manager at Tatsuda’s, and we fully embraced it. We’d go about our day and randomly announce to anyone nearby: “Success!”

Maybe we’d solved a huge problem.

Maybe we simply didn’t cry in the aisle that day.

Both counted.

Being sick, though, tends to pull me into a darker mental space. I ruminate on how miserable I feel, spiral into thoughts about being a giant failure, revisit my ongoing existential crises, and—yesterday—did a whole lot of crying.

It didn’t help that my diet consisted of protein oatmeal, whatever I could scrounge from the cupboard, jalapeño potato chips, and not nearly enough water. I also hadn’t showered in more days than I care to admit.

But today, I’m feeling better. Still not great—but better. And well enough to notice and name my successes so far:

1. I showered. SUCCESS!!!!

2. I ate a vegetable after eating a donut, rotisserie chicken, and mashed potatoes. SUCCESS!!!

3. I raised caring children who go to the grocery store to buy their miserable mother donuts. SUCCESS!!

4. I spent time out of bed with my kids. SUCCESS!!!

5. I spent time with my kids dreaming about a spontaneous trip we could take together. No solid plans yet, but—SUCCESS!!!

   
   

It’s only 1:23 p.m., and I already have a day full of successes.

SUCCESS!!