Happy Pride Month, day 30, finis
Jun. 30th, 2024 08:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sonia30. I'm proud of going through with this idea of posting something I'm proud of for 30 days. I didn't miss a day! I didn't run out of things to post! It's fun to have permission to "boast," which is something I was told never to do around age 6. And I'm delighted that you folks commented and enjoyed the posts too.
I noticed as I went along that I was separating pride from arrogance and from judgment of others. Finding a pride that’s a feeling inside rather than a competition. I can be proud of something I was born with and proud of something I work hard at (usually both at once) and it doesn’t have to mean anything about anyone else. But I sure learned that lesson young about staying small to keep other people from feeling uncomfortable.
It's good to have had five and a half decades to accumulate habits and accomplishments to be proud of. I've always thought of pride as external, something I have to earn from someone else. Little kids get told that someone is proud of them, rather than being taught to be proud of themselves.
It turns out that healthy pride is simpler than I thought, once it's separated from all those other things. I like some things about myself, and some things I've done, and that's allowed.
I noticed as I went along that I was separating pride from arrogance and from judgment of others. Finding a pride that’s a feeling inside rather than a competition. I can be proud of something I was born with and proud of something I work hard at (usually both at once) and it doesn’t have to mean anything about anyone else. But I sure learned that lesson young about staying small to keep other people from feeling uncomfortable.
It's good to have had five and a half decades to accumulate habits and accomplishments to be proud of. I've always thought of pride as external, something I have to earn from someone else. Little kids get told that someone is proud of them, rather than being taught to be proud of themselves.
It turns out that healthy pride is simpler than I thought, once it's separated from all those other things. I like some things about myself, and some things I've done, and that's allowed.
no subject
Date: 2024-06-30 11:40 pm (UTC)Thank you for doing it in a (small, breezy) public space! My therapist recently suggested I write a "Things I'm Great At" list and your reframing here of healthy pride helps me understand why making that list has been difficult.
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Date: 2024-07-01 04:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-07-02 11:52 am (UTC)And yes, it was helpful and interesting to look at the ways pride can be interpreted and applied to aspects of life that's separate from competition or praise, etc.