A friend of mine was just inducted to a music hall of fame. I think this is a big deal, but whenever anyone congratulates her, she tends to downplay it.
Now as someone who is never going to be inducted into any hall of fame unless I create one and induct myself, I don’t understand her attitude. I have lived in Nashville for decades and have some insight to how hard the music business is. If you have recorded songs, gone on tour, and been on television, you should be proud of yourself. If you have sung with Sam Bush, Porter Wagoner, and Dolly Parton, you should be proud of yourself. My friend has done all of these things.
I hope now that the ceremony has taken place, she has soaked in the moment and enjoyed herself. I hope that she is half as proud of herself as her friends are.
But her attitude is far from rare. Too many of us talk down our wins. Over the years, I have heard many things like this:
“Sure, I earned my doctorate, but it took me a decade.”
“Sure, I got the promotion. But I don’t think anyone else really applied for it.”
“Sure, I published this article, but it was just in a local publication, and I think the editor felt sorry for me.”
Yikes! Being happy that something good happened doesn’t make us bigheads or braggarts. We need to channel our inner toddler. If a toddler wins a race, and you say that they ran fast and did a good job, they don’t say, “Oh, the other kids were slow,” or “This is only a toddler race. I didn’t win the Olympics.” No, they clap and scream and run some more for good measure.
We should be happy when good things happen to others. But we should also be happy when good things happen to us.
The world often seems cold and angry these days. A good counter to that is to take every chance we have to celebrate. Even when it’s for ourselves.
JollyLibrarian 