What Are You Proud Of?

The question of pride always confuses me a bit – genuinely asking: why is it a sin again? I am presently not for or against pride, but I have always wanted to understand what the sin of pride is and where the line is. Anybody know about this? Thank you!

I am proud I found a way to be around horses every week. In the past I’ve always chosen formal exercise over time w horses, but not this time. I’m not giving up on my dream hobby.

You know those gigantic fitness tires? There is one at a park near my house and last month I FLIPPED IT! It made me feel powerful like I can do anything.
Also, I’m proud to stay gentle in this difficult world.

My husband and I just celebrated our 20th anniversary and I just kept saying all week, ‘I’m so proud of us!’ I really am! Life and marriage and kids and jobs are all so hard, but here we are, twenty years in and we are awesome! My parents had/have a very dysfunctional marriage and I was terrified to commit when my husband proposed. I am so proud of how I have broken generational patterns, leaned in when things got hard, learned how to communicate and “fight fair” and have allowed myself to be vulnerable in order to build intimacy when it sometimes feels easier to go into self-protection mode.
Also, though an avid cardio junkie my whole life, I have tried and tried for over a decade to find and stick to a lifting regimen. I know at my age it’s what my body needs, and this last year I’ve actually done it! For the last 18 months I have shown up and strength trained three times a week consistently. I’ve literally only missed for illness or travel. I actually have arm muscles!!! I am so proud of myself!

I am proud of staying consistent with attending my Hot Pilates classes every week since the beginning of the year. My goal has been to go 3 times a week. Some weeks, it doesn’t happen because of my teen’s activities, but most weeks, I’m there sweating and lifting weights!. At 53, in perimenopause, exercising helps with my mood and energy. Being stronger and healthier is a priority for me at this stage of my life.

I am really proud of my resiliency and optimism. I’ve been through some really hard things (health stuff, a very unexpected divorce when my daughter was a baby, etc.), and I kept my head up and made it to the other side humbly and with empathy for myself and others (including my ex which feels like a total miracle everyday as we navigate co-parenting). It feels good to be an encouragement to people also going through hard things and to be an example that you can get through.

And, I’m a really good mom and teacher who tried to always lead with compassion. Feels weird to say these things out loud, but it feels good. Thanks, Joanna <3

I'm so encouraged reading all of these comments. We deserve to be proud of ourselves. I'm proud of all of you!

I’m proud of myself for paying attention to an early symptom and catching my child-transmitted strep throat before it put me out of commission to be a fully-functioning parent. (Even though it meant a trip to urgent care!) And I’m proud of myself for noticing my anxiety triggers (it’s like sometimes my brain becomes velcro or a magnet and just GRABS whatever thought is nearby to worry over) and being proactive about working through some of them. I’m 40, and my 25 year-old-self would be SO heartened to see that I will, in fact, learn some tricks for making my anxious phases feel easier.

Readers, please take this with nuance when I say that I am both wildly amazed and proud of myself that I am fully raw-dogging my way through life right now! No anti-anxiety meds or antidepressants! I don’t smoke – I hardly even drink anymore!
Without getting into too much details, there are a significant number of stressful things happening in my life right now, and I recently had to zoom out on myself and marvel at the fact that I am handling it all…really well? On my own? That’s crazy!
Obviously this isn’t a drag against anyone on anti-anxiety medications!! Shouldn’t need to be said, but I’ll say it anyway. There have been times in my life that Lexapro has gotten me through.
But I have worked really, really hard to build up coping strategies and, in all honesty, just banal executive functioning skills that have me thriving in a way that the me from several years ago wouldn’t have thought possible. So I’m proud of myself for that. :)

I’m incredibly proud of my oldest son (13) who feels deeply but doesn’t take shit from anyone. He doesn’t stay at tables where he’s not treated kindly, but he openly welcomes anyone to sit with him. I am proud that I taught him that. I’m also proud of myself for quietly and without making a scene, excusing myself from situations where I feel uncomfortable or am being treated disrespectfully—or where I feel the need to compete to find a way into a conversation. I did this on Saturday, actually.

I felt very proud of the work I’ve done on myself to be confident enough to bless others and walk away.

I taught myself to play guitar when I was 19 but being self taught, I stalled out at chords just so I could sing along. And that was enough! I loved it. But there’s that part of The Grapes of Wrath where Steinbeck describes a guitar player around a campfire that starts with “Many men can chord a guitar, but perhaps this man was a picker.”…. and then it ends with everyone saying goodnight “And each wished he could pick a guitar, because it is a gracious thing.”

And since reading that I too wished I could fingerpick. So in 2023 (over 20 years after I read Grapes of Wrath) I committed to practicing everyday for at least 15 minutes. I wish my college self could hear me play! It truly is a gracious thing.

I started a completely new career, starting at very bottom, 6 years ago. I am on my fourth job in the sector and I am, like, reeeally good at it :)

I have a 100-student freshman class and I know all of their names by week 2.

I’m proud of how much I’ve learned in the last two years because of putting myself out there into situations where I was out of my depth but willing to put in the work to learn. I’m 41 and just starting my professional life, because of a couple false starts in my 20s and then 10 years of child-raising where I stayed at home. I decided I wanted a career a couple years ago, but really had no resume to speak of. I started out by volunteering in spaces I was interested in, learned a TON through those experiences, met a lot of smart people doing meaningful work, and proved myself to be a quick learner. Those volunteer jobs lead to me being hired to basically my dream job at a nonprofit. The director said when hiring me, “I know you don’t know how to do all of this, but I know you will be able to learn anything.” And that has been true. Turns out, learning new things at this age is really, really fun. It feels like going to the Brain Gym every day. I feel really proud of myself for what I’ve been able to figure out, and I feel like I can do anything now, if I’m willing to learn. Everything starts with starting.

Got through a divorce, an awful one. My kids were 2 & 4. And now I do it all – take care of them financially, emotionally, mental load-wise. Like, all the little things and all the big things. I’m proud. But I wish someone would look at me and say – WOW, you’re a great mom. So I’m saying here, anonymously, that I am handling literally everything and I am proud and also profoundly sad.

I am really proud of holding a lot of things at once, especially paradoxical things: supporting a friend leaving an abusive relationship AND cheering my daughter on at her first volleyball practice. Mourning the passage of time and ageing parents AND savoring and being proud of who my kids are becoming. Saying goodbye to my external younger, sexier body (and reliable hormones) AND loving who my internal self is becoming: more loving, more gracious, more open. I am also proud that I am doing the work trying to be aware of the temptation to medicate with distraction, materialism, social media. I am trying to be present for BOTH/AND.