If there’s anything I can’t stand, it’s when someone asks me about something going on in my life and I excitingly tell them all about it, and they say things like ,“You’re such a try-hard” and, “What an over-achiever.” Then there’s my personal favorite, “Stop making the rest of us look bad.” Some of these conversations are completely harmless, I know. However, no matter how innocent the remark, I can’t silence the internal voice telling me that I shouldn’t be “bragging” and I should stop being so proud of everything I do. After someone hits me with one of those remarks, I often shut down. I become an embarrassed, fast-talker, trying to backtrack and work some of their successes into the conversation somehow. But I’m here to tell you that this is not necessary. You don’t need to feel like you can’t be proud of your accomplishments.
There’s no shame in giving something your all, succeeding, and being proud of yourself for it. Whether it be in person or on social media, you will always have a reason to doubt yourself and the pride you feel for the hard work you’ve put in. Some people may get upset if you start posting things like grades and GPA’s on your social media accounts. I’ve seen plenty of viral articles online telling us that we shouldn’t post things like that for all to see. They tell us that it will put too much pressure on our peers to do as well as us and that it will hurt our friends and followers who don’t have the same successes as us. But, I don’t agree with that at all.
I don’t see anything wrong with posting your triumphs on your social media. You’ve worked hard all semester for those grades, you’ve put your time, effort, heart and soul into the work you’ve been doing, and you deserve to be able to share your happiness with your friends and followers. I don’t see it as bragging, I see it as sharing the good news with your friends.
Now, I know that this seems like a rant, based on an experience I’ve had that I couldn’t let go of. But to be honest, I can’t pinpoint one specific time that this started bothering me. It’s just a collection of thoughts that have been swirling through my head since I started hearing these remarks (said to me and others,) and I felt the need to let other young people know that having pride in your hard work is not a bad thing. As long as you can stay humble, there’s nothing wrong with publicly celebrating your accomplishments.
So congratulations on all of your accomplishments! Stand tall, be proud and share some of that happiness today.