I worked for a company and there was a monthly award handed out to a group or individual for going above and beyond their job. An email would come out, colleagues would submit their nominees and you know, I’m not sure who voted!  

I never won. (Bitter much?!)…not the point. The point is…

Today, I am giving myself the MARC award. I survived the week home with a 12 month old and a 29 month old on CHEMO. There was minimal TV watching (but there would have been more if Cecilia would sit still for 2 minutes!) 

Monday and Tuesday, I felt the worse mainly suffering from exhaustion, but nothing I couldn’t manage. Scott worked through dinner, bath and bed the first two nights. Wednesday, a chemo free day but side effects last 48 hours, we made it out for a play date with Kristi.  That evening,  Jessica and Adam brought over dinner. On Thursday,  I felt even better (didn’t even take anti nausea meds) and Lyndsay stopped by for coffee and Kirby stopped by for lunch. It was a beautiful day, so we played outside and off to Jeffrey’s  swim lessons we went that evening. Today, I felt like ME!! Not 100% but I could live like this (especially if you told me I didn’t have to have more chemo!)  We had a playdate with Emily, read books and laughed a lot!

As for the MARC award. the whole reason the award started, was to have a formal way to celebrate our successes as a marketing team. We would work to get out an amazing program, only to speed right on to the next one, never stopping to acknowledge and celebrate the hard work.

What I have come to realize, is it’s our responsibility to celebrate ourselves every now and then. I think we are raised to be humble and often don’t give ourselves the credit we deserve. We need to remember, that no matter what we are facing, at the end of the day, we need to be proud of ourselves and say, “you did a damn good job” (because let’s be honest, no one else is going to tell you!)

© Nicole Szymonik and This Is the Pause Button, 2015. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicole Szymonik and This Is The Pause Button with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.