Hello Gold Star Squad!
Let’s use this first post to set the stage for our future interactions!
You may be wondering what to expect from this site. What is this business of giving out gold stars all about???
For me, gold stars are a way of recognizing and appreciating ourselves and others for all of the fabulous qualities we have and the wonderful things we do.
But gold stars aren't just a device for acknowledging the upbeat things in our lives. They can also be used to recognize the efforts made by a friend who is struggling or the attitude of a family member who refuses to give up when going through difficult times. Learning from your own mistakes can also get you a gold star.
There are so many different ways to give out a gold star! You can verbally tell someone how much you appreciate them, you can be fully present by giving a loved one your undivided attention, or you can give tokens of your appreciation to yourself, your family, and your friends.
I have even created a line of Gold Star products on Zazzle** that you can give as gifts to others (and yourself!) if you feel inspired to do so!
Now some of you might be thinking: Aren't gold stars competitive? In some people's experience, gold stars were given out only to the best students – for example, the ones who got a perfect score on a test or who had the fewest absences.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, others may feel that gold stars, like participation trophies, lose their value because they are sometimes given out too freely or, in some cases, to everyone.
I'm here to turn all of these notions on their head! First off, this is not a competition! In fact, I want your experience here to feel like the exact opposite – it should hopefully feel like an exercise in generosity when you visit this site.
And I think that what people really don't like about participation trophies is that they are often handed out with no thought at all behind them. Everyone gets one without any specific recognition of each person's contribution to the team, group, or event.
But I am here to recognize you. To acknowledge you. To value you. To celebrate you. To create a safe space where you can let us see who you really are. If you can be vulnerable enough to allow yourself to be truly seen, then you absolutely deserve a gold star!
As we get started on our Gold Star journey, new posts will be available every Tuesday and Friday morning. Posts may occasionally appear on other days of the week as well, but for now you can count on new material being published on Tuesdays and Fridays. If this schedule doesn’t work out as well I as hope it will, I will make adjustments as we go along!
Each day will have a theme. On Tune Up Tuesdays, we will give ourselves a tune up, just like we do when we want to take the best care of our cars or our musical instruments.
It’s a great idea to work on adjusting our thoughts and actions if we want to be in the business of awarding gold stars! We will be conducting tune ups so that we can SHINE our gold star light as much as possible! To do this, we will get to know ourselves and each other better through the use of question prompts and other techniques that will allow us to explore our inner thoughts and feelings.
We will also use Tune Up Tuesdays as a day for gathering knowledge and wisdom. We will discuss a variety of topics, from ancient philosophies like Stoicism to the modern-day science of neurobiology. This is meant to be a safe space, so regardless of your beliefs, please be open-minded and respectful during these discussions.
On Tune Up Tuesdays, you will hopefully gain insights by learning different modalities, practices, and techniques that will help you to be fully present in your daily life and will allow you to earn even more gold stars than you already are!
Now, I don't want to give the wrong impression here. There will always be something for us to work on, change, or improve. We all want to be the best versions of ourselves, and that's what Tune Up Tuesdays are all about. But we shouldn't beat ourselves up if we fall short of our goals (easier said than done, I know!). I'm quite sure that you are a pretty awesome person already!
So this isn't a reward system where you are entitled to receive a gold star only after you've lost those 10 pounds, gotten a higher-paying job, or Marie Kondo'd your entire house. You can always try to improve, but our motto around here is – you deserve a gold star just for being who you are!
Finally, every week on Gold Star Friday, a new Star of the Week will be announced! The Star of the Week will be chosen from reader nominations!
While you can nominate anyone for the award, I encourage you to nominate yourself! If you feel self-conscious about nominating yourself, please know that I will only ever announce the recipient of the award, not the nominator. I want to acknowledge you and all of your efforts. Now is your chance to be seen and to SHINE!
Would you like to nominate yourself or someone you care about to be our next Star of the Week? To read the rules about the nomination process and get more information about the free gift that winners will receive, please click here. Then submit the Nomination Form!
You can include anything you want in your nomination – tell us about your nominee’s fabulous personality traits, cool hobbies, or all of the little things that he or she does on a regular basis that might get overlooked. If you are nominating yourself, tell us all about YOU! All award announcements will be based on the information that is provided in the nominating email.
The only other requirement is that you MUST submit a photo of the award nominee – we want to see the shining stars that our winners are on our Gold Star Fridays!
And now for the most fun part! Every U.S. resident who receives the Star of the Week award will get to choose a product from my Gold Star Award Winner collection** on Zazzle as a prize.
If your nominee wins, I will send the prize free of charge! I will contact the nominator via email in order to obtain for a shipping address for the winner.
I will not sell the personal information of any nominator or nominee, nor will I allow that information to be disclosed to third parties except in the extremely narrow circumstances set forth in the site's privacy policy.
Unfortunately, at this time, only people living in the United States are eligible to receive a free prize. I'm very sorry about that! However, non U.S. residents may still submit nominations and be announced as the Star of the Week on the website.
All submissions will become the property of Gold Star Revolution, and your submission may also be edited for length and/or clarity. I will never share your submissions with anyone else!
And if you don’t win right away, don’t worry – you won’t need to resubmit your nomination to be considered for a future award. All nominations will be kept in a pool that winners will be drawn from each week.
How does all that sound? Great, I hope! Please send in your nominations today, and let's get this thing started!
**If you click through any of the links on this page and make a purchase from Zazzle, I will receive two separate commissions: one for being the designer of the product and another for referring the sale to Zazzle.
Please note: Any other endorsements of websites, books, etc. that I make on this site are made solely because I like them. They aren't advertisements, and I do not receive any compensation for mentioning them. You can assume that the only compensation that I receive is for endorsements of Zazzle or Zazzle products. If any exceptions arise along the way, I will expressly note that I am being compensated.