The Case For Normalizing Celebrating Your Friends’ ‘One Big Thing’ Instead Of Only Acknowledging Marriage & Kids
"Cheers to friends doing their thing!"
CarlosBarquero | Shutterstock It's important to celebrate the milestones in your friends' lives — and not just the traditional ones like marriage and kids. Promotions, graduations, moving, and even cutting off toxic people are all cause for celebration!
Content creator Madi Beumee emphasized this point in a recent TikTok. She noted that for many people, marriage and kids are not a priority, yet they still deserve love and appreciation from their friends. To fix this, she insisted that we should start celebrating our friends' "one big thing."
"I'm of the belief that when you are in your late 20s and early 30s, a lot of the celebrations or big times that your friends celebrate you ... have to do with having a baby or getting married," she said. To combat this, she and her friends introduced the concept of "one big thing."
Your "one big thing" is an event or achievement you are looking forward to in the coming months. Once you check it off your list, everyone celebrates with you. This could be anything from landing a new job or buying a house to finishing a degree or starting therapy.
Commenters loved the idea and shared their own 'big things' that they plan to celebrate.
"I am 30 and my one big thing is moving across the country," one user shared. "I’m getting my MBA right now at 27, so I guess that’s my one big thing," another commenter wrote.
"I’m 25 and everyone around me is getting married, starting families, etc. My one big thing will be passing my final CPA exam and getting my CPA license this year," a third user added.
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Other commenters listed paying off debt, getting their tubes tied, and adopting a cat as some of their big things worthy of celebration.
It's important to show up for your friends.
The American Time Use Survey, which started in 2003 and is sponsored by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, found that before 2013, people spent just under 7 hours per week with friends, and around 15 hours when including family, neighbors, and coworkers outside of work. In 2014, people began reporting less social time, and by 2021, the amount had nearly halved. People began spending less than 3 hours per week with close friends and 10 hours with all companions.
Considering friendship is one of the most important and valuable relationships that we can have in our lives, we must put in the effort to keep up with them. We shouldn't just celebrate marriage and kids because those aren't the only things that matter in a person's life. We should make an effort to uplift our friends for every little thing they accomplish because it shows that we're thinking of them and rooting them on.
Plus, as one commenter put it, "No one ever looks back and says, 'I wish I celebrated less.'"
Nia Tipton is a staff writer with a bachelor's degree in creative writing and journalism who covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on psychology, relationships, and the human experience.
