Hi, I’m LaAnita.

I’m a nurse anesthesiologist, entrepreneur, hotelier, and the founder of #LaLaLoveDrinks.

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For years, I was focused on taking care of everyone else, building businesses, achieving goals, and checking off the next item on my to-do list. Like many women, I spent so much time pursuing the next milestone that I rarely stopped to celebrate the one I had just accomplished.

Then I began to notice something.

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People wait too long to celebrate themselves.

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We celebrate weddings, promotions, and major life events, but we often overlook the everyday victories that make up a meaningful life. We don’t celebrate keeping a promise to ourselves. We don’t celebrate choosing ourselves. We don’t celebrate healing, growth, courage, consistency, or even rest.

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We wait until everything is perfect. We wait until we’ve achieved more. We wait until someone else acknowledges our success. And sometimes, we never celebrate at all.

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One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that life is happening now. Freedom is now. Joy is now. Celebration is now.

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This past year, I hosted my first birthday party. While that may seem simple to some people, it was a powerful moment for me. It reminded me that I didn’t need to wait for a bigger achievement, a different season, or someone else’s permission to celebrate my life.

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That experience changed something inside me.

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I realized that every win deserves recognition. The big wins. The small wins. The private wins no one else sees. The moments when you choose faith over fear. The moments when you keep going. The moments when you finally rest because you’ve been carrying so much for so long.

Those moments deserve a toast, too.