"Be secretly incredible"
-Bob Goff

Many times I have seen this quote as well as quotes similar to this one and did not really truly grasp their meaning. In a world of self-promotion and constant access to what is going on all around us, it's easy to get lost in the idea of being recognized.

We live in a day in age where recognition is as accessible as the push of a button or the click of a mouse. This can be an incredible benefit when used correctly, but I think that sometimes this social media-driven world has made us feel as if sharing what we are doing at all times is one of the only ways for our actions to be validated.

We do an immense amount of self-promotion to gain that validation. We share what we eat, what we do for fun, when we workout, and virtually everything that we can think of. Though this can be a useful tool and can still have many benefits, I think it can cause us to compare our successes and progress to those of others.

We feel pressured to prove our identities. We feel encouraged to share when we make strides in our lives when it is just as important to recognize that we can make improvements in silence, or on our own if we please.

We don't need the validation from others when we know that we are doing what is best. There is a unique sort of validation in doing what is best for you, for yourself. Just because thousands of people aren't watching your growth, doesn't mean that you aren't growing. It's OK to progress in silence. What I'm saying is, it's OK to take time to work on becoming the person you want to be, and keeping it to yourself doesn't make it any less real.