I often downplay myself for things I do just because I don't feel like it's worthy of expressing. I feel like even if I do something that I know I really wanted to do, it still might not be that awesome to some people.

If I take a major step in life, sometimes I just look at it as another day. I don't feel like I'm doing big things for myself. People tell me I should be proud of the things that I do or have done, but I don't feel that it's big enough to celebrate.

Why is that?

I feel like it can be many factors. Lack of self-confidence, not feeling like I'm enough, not being supported in ways I needed by people close to me, or honestly just being too humble and shying away from my own self-reassurance. Whatever it is, I don't like it and I want to change it.

I was hanging out with some friends at their new apartment a few days ago and, somehow, we got into talking about what's been transpiring in our lives over the past few months. We talked about school, moving, and jobs among other things.

The whole conversation, I would praise my friends for everything they've done. When it got to me, I would just say, "Oh stop it," and brush it off like I hadn't accomplished anything recently.

One of my friends stopped me and explained to me that I was the one who probably did the most out of all of us. It took me a minute to think about it, and I have been told about this in my behavior before, but I never really did anything about it.

You never really realize it, but the words we say to ourselves and about ourselves shape us into who we are. If you don't believe you do big things, you won't do big things.

If you don't believe moving out of your parents' house is a big step, then you're just telling yourself you're not worthy of being adult enough to handle it. If you don't believe getting your first real job is a big thing, then you won't look at your promotion as a big thing, and you'll never really be proud of yourself.

I just spent the last four to six months trying to figure out what was happening in my life for the next year and some. I was juggling school, work, social life, and extra clubs while trying to find a place to move out to and a job.

My search for a new place to call somewhat of a home was beyond stressful. I was going to live on my college campus for the summer and find a place to move to in the fall when school starts. This was a roller coaster of pressure and anxiety.

I was bouncing back and forth between the campus housing and another house I found off-campus. I had the house off-campus, but then something fell through and I had to get back into the on-campus one. Then, I was told that I could get back into the off-campus house and, thankfully, that time it worked out.

It was all very exhausting.

My hunt for a job went quite similarly. I had applied to over 50 jobs in about three months, and less than half of them actually got back to me to say no. The others just didn't give any feedback, and it was so stressful and confusing.

I eventually got a job back in the middle of July. This definitely taught me that the job field is very crazy and, a lot of times, it is just who you know.

Many times, I don't feel like I'm doing big things for myself, so I'm never proud of myself or something I did. Though it may sound narcissistic, self-praise is not a bad thing! We need it!

Yeah, we can get a lot of support and celebration from outside of ourselves, but if we don't have it within, then it won't ever truly stick with you.

Be proud of yourself.