I’m in a duet book club right now, reading the Aeneid in a new translation, for the first time since I read it in 1993-94, in Latin. My book club partner is a dear friend, was in that Latin class with me (and many others in both high school and college), and is a brilliant Assistant Professor of English at the University of Cincinnati.
In devising our mini e-book club, her fourth point on our weekly plan was this: “We celebrate the heck out each other.”
I just love the idea of setting an intention to cheer wildly. While I have a natural human reaction to support and cheer on people for their successes, there is always a risk that I will get busy with the business of whatever I’m doing, and forget to appropriately celebrate. (I’m notorious for giving an accidentally scary face in auditions, for example – just because I’m focusing really hard on doing my job well.)
Setting the intention to be positive, enthusiastic, and supportive is a great way to make sure you never miss that important part of being a friend, an educator, a colleague, a parent, and on and on.