The word proud is an adjective that means feeling deep pleasure and satisfaction as a result of one's own achievements, qualities or possessions. It's a great feeling, really.

Feeling proud of yourself is something that everyone should be able to feel. Whether you ran your best mile time, got the highest grade in the class, won a championship game, reached your goal weight or resisted sending a late night text to someone you shouldn't, you should be proud of yourself.

Whenever most people think of the word proud, they think of huge and monumental things. If someone writes a status on their Facebook saying how proud they are of themselves, I guarantee there will be comments on the post asking if they made it into the Olympics, if they just became president of the United States and so on. You don't have to land some amazing job or hit the lottery to be proud, you can be proud of all of the small things you've accomplished throughout your day, week, month or year. You can even break it down to reaching a goal every hour. Whatever it is, being proud of yourself not only makes you feel better about what you are accomplishing, but it's such an attractive attribute to have.

Being proud of yourself shows that you not only take pride in how other people see you, but it shows that you are too proud of yourself to let yourself down. Don't be embarrassed to post a progress picture on Instagram, don't be embarrassed of your two-bedroom apartment, don't be embarrassed of your shoes or clothes, don't be embarrassed of yourself or anything you own for that matter. You know why? Because you earned it. You worked your tail off for that two-bedroom apartment, you worked your hardest to reach the weight you're at, you worked until your eyes almost fell out of your head to complete that semester long project. Whatever it is, you did your best and you gave it all you had. It's okay to be proud of yourself. To be honest, the only people who will say you're "too proud" are those who either haven't learned to be proud of themselves or those who are jealous.

In my opinion, there isn't such thing as "too proud." People are proud all the time. They're proud to be someone's family member or friend and people are proud of their family and friends. They aren't just proud of the things they have and the jobs they've obtained. Most of the time, that isn't the case. Most of the time, people are proud of their family and friends and proud to be someone's family member or friend because of the person they have grown to become. People work hard every day to please others. But what some people don't understand is that you can't please everyone all of the time. You must worry about pleasing yourself first.

So whether you're a proud parent, grandparent, sibling, child, friend, whatever - make sure you express it. But also remember to not only be proud of others, but to be proud of yourself as well. Be proud of your religion, be proud of your sexuality, be proud of your political party, your country, your interests and your education. Be proud.

Be proud of what you own, be proud of what you've accomplished and be proud of who you are because in the end, if you're happy and you're proud, you'll succeed.