What Are You Proud Of?

I am proud of my positive outlook on life (most days 😊), my self-awareness, my discipline, and the fact that I have set myself up well financially to basically be coastFIRE now in my mom era so I can fully focus on my growing family :)

as a true millenial, i have a hard time naming my emotions. i’ve worked really hard to help my three-year-old daughter understand and name hers. the other day, she started crying about something at school and looked at me and said “i’m just disappointed.” my heart swelled.

My dear friend’s dad just died suddenly, only a year after she lost her mom. And she’s halfway through her first pregnancy. I’m so heartbroken for her. But proud of myself for showing up in small ways even when it feels hard and awkward – a door dash gift card, shipping unisom to her front door to help her sleep, reminding her to ignore everyone’s texts if she needs to.

I am Minnesotan who is solidly uncomfortable with tooting my own horn, so I’m proud that I have grown enough to say that I am proud of this: making the heart-wrenching decision to leave my marriage. And, there even MORE things I’m proud of related to that: I am doing a pretty good job of taking care of myself properly during this really wobbly and exhausting time. This is in no small part due to the nuggets of wisdom I’ve absorbed from many people who have contributed here: drink a glass of water in a really stressful moment; be like a bison; take a leap to make new friends; make yourself a spinach omelette, even when you don’t want to eat. Feeling grateful for this community of caring people:)

My little girl came out of nursery (kindergarten) the other day and told me she had been sad during the day at one point. She told me she went to the book corner and ‘gave herself a hug, sang herself a song and gave herself a fist bump’ to feel better. I didn’t teach her this technique as a coping mechanism, but I AM taking credit for all the times 10000+ times I’ve soothed her and now she’s worked out how to self-regulate a bit when I’m not around. Hurray

I’m proud to be still surviving on this earth without my mom here with me. I guess I had to do it to believe it was possible. I can carry on while missing her, knowing how blessed I was to have had the best mom ever.

Recently, I left a job and industry that I’ve not felt excitement or passion about for quite sometime and without my exact next step planned out. I’m a very security-oriented person and feel proud of myself for taking a step forward despite not having it all worked out, giving myself the space to breathe and find what my next professional chapter might be.

I love this question! I’m proud of many things about myself and one of the things I’m proudest of is my relationship with myself. Only I can know how far I’ve come. I’ve gone from an insecure, self-loathing person to a confident, self-loving person.

I am proud of myself for going on my first group trip where I didn’t know anybody. I hadn’t traveled for about 6 years due to many factors, but just this month I took the trip. It was scary and I was so uncomfortable for a lot of the time but I am overwhelmingly proud of myself for just doing it. This is such a lovely post and the comments are awesome. What an inspiring community!

I am proud of how much my daughters adore each other and get along. I have a much older sister with whom I’ve always wanted to be closer, and so I had a goal that my girls feel a truly loved and liked by each other. I read somewhere while I was pregnant with my second to do a ventriloquist voice for the baby when the older child comes into the room. “Oh my big sister is here! I love her so much!” I did this and it was hilarious and kept us entertained for a good two years because the baby would also be very confused about things. “Oh shoes! I bet those are to wear on your ears!” It was also very embarrassing at times when my oldest would say, “Make XXX talk!” and I had to do it in front of new friends hahahaha. But whether from that or what, they just adore each other and are so loving and kind to each other. They do sometimes hurt each other or get mad and lash out, but they are quick to apologize and quick to accept apologies. I really feel proud that they will hopefully have this friendship long after I am gone and I think it’s an amazing gift I hope we can continue to nourish!

I’m really proud of breaking a cycle of bad parenting and maternal trauma and building a relationship with my daughter.

I’m proud of how far I’ve come in accepting my body for where it is. I grew up with my mom pinching my belly and telling me to do some sit-ups. I spent decades hating my squishy parts. But after lots of therapy, and childbirth, and mental health meds, and an embrace of listen-we’re-all-gonna-die-and-none-of-this-really-matters when it comes to beauty standards, I feel a lot more loving toward my squishy parts. My toddler recently pulled my shirt up and pinched my belly, and I felt like I could see my body through his eyes–a soft place to land.

I’m proud of myself for going to a Hot Flash Dance event. It’s so outside my comfort zone but OMG it was amazing! I was surrounded by so many fun and fearless women who were dancing and singing along to whatever the female DJ was playing while being served drinks by women bar tenders.

I have loved reading everyone’s comments, such a lovely warm space to land in amidst the chaos. I asked my family at tea tonight what are they proud of themselves for today and amazingly it sparked a great conversation. Usually tea with my 4 and 7 year old is a fractious affair but they both jumped in to tell me the things they were proud of themselves for today! So thank you for the prompt and for all the comments.

Sincerely, I think part of why we can nod along with people like Any Poehler saying that she’s proud of herself, is because we already love her. But if you’re a nobody, and you say you’re proud of x, y, z…people resist it. Resist YOU. I just watched the Netflix documentary about Norm Macdonald and he speaks to this so poignantly. The world is a cold place, where people used to look straight past him, people now smile at him & want the chance to talk. Fame makes the world a warm place. I’ve been thinking differently since hearing this—and as a nobody— I hope I can make others feel the warmth of being the object of someone’s actual interest and desire…

This morning as she was fastening her scooter helmet to head to school, my 10yo transracial, adopted child said to no one (and everyone), “I love how I look! I love who I am!” and my heart fluttered with gratitude.

I have such a hard time talking about myself at all. BUT I take an adult Jazz dance class at my local studio to , and after class last night, I overheard someone say to someone else in awe how I was so in-synch with the teacher and I felt SO proud. While I danced off and on as a kid, I never really learned technique until I was an adult and I have poured my heart into it, so a fellow classmate noticing my hard work felt so good.

I did my very first reading at a literary-magazine launch last Monday, in front of a couple hundred people, complete with a weird subject (human composting and my grandfather’s relationship with death) and weapon-grade social anxiety (a switch flipped in me when I was about 20 and I went from being a natural in front of a crowd to a panic-attacky coyote who looked down and saw she was past the edge of the cliff). It’s a food magazine, moreover, so the other readers all talked about food and then it closed out with me, like, GOTH TIME! I got stronger as I went along and neither barfed NOR cried, and afterwards the magazine founders were like, “that was great, everyone wants to be composted now!” Just what you want to hear after public speaking, haha.

My son is going to turn 16 next month. He is a cars nerd and has been a rear seat driver for a long time. He got his permit in Aug and I have been teaching him to drive. Lately when I step out and or go shopping, he is like, “I need to get my 50 hours of behind the wheel hours. So, I can drive you. ” It has been a good time to connect with a moody teenager and I hope he has fond memories of this time. This is not a big deal until you hear about my own story about getting my driver’s license. I got my license at my 6th attempt at behind the wheel test (not counting the 2 failed attempts in India. If you are from India, you know that it is impossible to fail the test in India and I managed to do it twice). And at the the sixth attempt, the examiner was like, this is your 3rd attempt with the written test and I am letting you pass (I was like, you dont know about my 3 prior failed attempts and that I had to retake the written test again). I am proud that I got over my fear and a calm enough driver to teach my son. My husband who is a better driver, refused to teach our son to drive as it he an impossible teacher and he didnt want to break my son’s confidence.

i’m proud to be raising a trilingual child!!

YOU GUYS! My 5-year-old was hanging out with his cousin. The cousin got sad when the hang was over and his parents lured him away with promise of a happy meal. My kid asked about getting a happy meal for himself. Alas, it wasn’t in the cards for our family that day. I assumed this crushing disappointment would ruin the rest of our night, but NO, the kid totally rolled with it and said he understood. At bedtime, I circled back to talk about how well he had felt his disappointment and moved through it and how well he could be disappointed and also calm. And he said “well, I know I’m getting a toy soon when [other parent] comes home from her trip, and besides, my family is my happy meal!” MY FAMILY IS MY HAPPY MEALLL?????? I know many of us are here for moral support as we try hard at parenting, and I’m just proud of ALL of us for doing our best and when kids bust out stunners like this one, we should all celebrate. So I’m proud of the kid, of course, but I’m also proud of how I’m showing up for him!

the idea of sharing something I am proud of about myself makes my hands sweat way too much, but I LOVE reading everyone’s comments and am cheering on the collective amazing-ness of this community. Shit is so bleak and these are good glimmers of people giving a damn, love to see it! xo

I feel weird writing this publicly but: I am so proud of the small organization I am co-building. As a former political appointee, I knew in November 2024 that I would lose my job; what I didn’t know was that all of my civil service colleagues in the State Department’s women’s rights office would also get fired, along with all of my colleagues at USAID. This is to say absolutely nothing of the broader attacks on our human rights and the legal frameworks upholding them. To say the world was bleak and dark is an understatement; I had many days of bursting into tears after trying to hold it together on a “pep up” phone call with a former colleague. Feeling like I could start something of my own was beyond daunting. But that’s what we did, because what else were we going to do? Give up? With two former colleagues, we’ve built a new organization focused on resisting and rebuilding for gender equality. We are not going quietly into the night and we are building a coalition of folks who see pronatalism and the weaponization of online spaces as the attacks on democracy they are. We’ve managed even to hire a former colleague to join as our chief of staff, and helped others on my teams find jobs and get connected to potential leads. There are many hard days in which I worry about whether it’s all enough and what one small organization can do in this horrifying, coordinated, well-funded attack on democracy and the rule of law. I daily remind myself often of the parable of the starfish, which was painted on the side of my elementary school gym: if I can help even one person, it matters. I’m so incredibly grateful to be able to stand up, and for everyone else still standing.

I am proud of being known as a kind person. I’m also someone who has a spicy temper, so it took me a long time to realize that you can be a nice person who also gets mad sometimes. Being someone who gets mad sometimes doesn’t make me a bad person whose kindness towards others doesn’t count anymore. I am working hard on being able to handle my temper and handle situations in a way that I feel good about, but I’m realizing I don’t have to wait to take credit for my good qualities until all of the things i’m working on are exactly where I want them. To be able to say that I am a kind person who also gets made sometimes after so many years of feeling like a bad person who tries to be kind feels really good.

I am proud of myself for keeping it all together after my husband died last year when I was 47 and my daughter was 10. I have gotten a job I love, we have stayed in our beloved house, got a kitten and traveled. It has all been so much, and everyday it feels overwhelming, but I am proud that we are doing so well and even growing.

I’m proud of myself for deciding to go to college to get a bachelor’s degree in my 40s despite having a full-time job and two kids. Going to school was never really encouraged in my family and out of my entire extended family, only myself and one cousin will have gone to college. I’m hoping to set an example for my kids to show them it’s never too late (but it sure does help if you can figure things out earlier in life ;))

I’m really proud to have breastfed my baby! Appreciate there are many barriers to breastfeeding outside people’s control, but also I feel like I worked hard and am proud of the effort! Also proud that my husband and I have been able to adapt to parenthood fairly smoothly and work well as a team – not something I take for granted!

Recently, and after a bunch of setbacks, I ran the 20K from my house in the Catskills to the bagel store nearest me. I ran up all the hills. I kept going. I enjoyed myself so much!! I’m proud of all of the fitness I gained and that I kept trying even when life got in the way. (Not unrelated: as someone trying to forge a career in the arts, I often look to running as a model for how to approach other hard things and not give up.) Also, while I’m bragging, my kid is great and likes hanging out with me. :)

Love reading through the comments here. I’m proud of my relationship with my partner – almost every day we genuinely say to each other ‘I’m so lucky to be with you’. It sounds ridiculously corny written down, but it’s true. We’re over five years in now, had a civil partnership, and have dealt with various shitty snobbish and ableist attitudes and estrangements from my family, and money pressures as we try to buy a house together. Throughout it all, our relationship has felt surprisingly easy compared to how I thought a relationship would feel, based on TV etc, my previous relationship and my own parents example! We respect each other, care about each other and make an effort to talk things through and listen to each other. He somehow makes me laugh even on days when I feel rubbish! I am so proud of myself for going to therapy before meeting him, figuring our what I wanted from a relationship, and being open minded and strong enough to recognise we worked together well when he came along, and that he was the person I wanted to grow old with.

Really proud of two things this year. Number 1 – after a very, very long hiatus from driving (about 15 years), I am now behind the wheel most days. I’d been stuck in a loop of not driving, being worried about driving, occasionally having to drive and as a result of the anxiety feeling a bit dizzy, which reinforced my very rational belief that I should not drive. But then my husband got a great job offer last April out of town. We live in Providence and the bus system is actually totally fine, but with sports and playdates and different school pickup times, driving makes everything so much easier. I would look around at teenagers driving, clearly on their phones — at ancient folks slowly but proficiently pulling into parking spaces, and think — I can do this too! And I won’t be on my phone and my faculties are all relatively in check. So I did. Leading up to the start of my husband’s job I became the driver and he the passenger. My husband likes to drive with WQXR, the classical radio station on, but I needed Cowboy Carter. The more I drove, the less I thought about it, the more muscle memory came back. I was once an 18 year old who drove my parent’s black volvo station wagon all across Massachusetts without a worry. Relaxed, I was fine, totally capable. I’d forgotten the best part about driving—singing alone in the car. I have a playlist now called Teddy Driving (words I never thought I would see), full of Beyonce, Lucinda Williams, Fiona Apple, John Prine. Sometimes I even enjoy my time in the car. I’m proud that my kids, 7 and 11, saw me struggle. Have a fear and face it. Come out safely on the other side, again and again, in the school pick up line, ready to drive them home. Number 2 – my sister Kate and I wrote a book. Together! It’s called Bad Like Me. Writing has been a lifelong dream and I still can’t get over that the book exists, physically in the world for people to pick up and read if they want. I’m so, so proud to have written it with my sister.

I am proud that in my 70s I still want to make positive contributions. I volunteer a lot.

I am so excited for future you, Meghan!

I am proud of myself in the first months of being 65 for choosing swimming lessons, walks in the dark, hours doodling in a new drawing book, and mornings sifting through the local thrift stores rather than sitting in my confused broken heart of adult child estrangement. Life can be unexpectedly tough friends – find something that makes you smile and remember to encourage yourself whenever you think of it. x

I wanted to comment on everyones post to say that I was proud of them but that would have taken days! As women we are not the best at “blowing our own trumpet” so it was really heartening to read everyones comments. Take pride in yourselves at all times Ladies, you are all wonderful xx

I hope one day soon I will be proud ot myself about dealing with what I have to deal with now. We are about to relocate to the UK, selling our home, got a promotion but will need to resign soon, aaaan find a good job in London, one of our be loved cats died the other is bored but cannot adopt a new cat because of the relocation… I’m training for my 1st marathon but got injured :( so it is a lot right now and possibly wont have a break for a good long while now.

I’m really proud of myself for going back to university at the age of 48 to start my PhD. I was the first in my family to attend university, went back to do a Masters in my early 40’s and now here I am. It’s scary and exciting, but I’m showing my teenage kids that learning doesn’t stop when you become an adult.

I’m so proud I was able to stay in a chair pose against a wall for seven minutes straight yesterday. This is something we’ve been doing once a week at my office with a bunch of colleagues in lieu of taking a break: we just go to a meeting room, start a timer and chat about anything (nothing better to beat the afternoon slump). A few years ago, I was only able to hold the chair pose for 2 minutes maximum, and so did my colleagues. We’ve been cheering on each other like crazy over the years, and every one of us has broken her own record since. Kind of exhilarating to go back to your desk afterwards.

Currently supporting my husband and mom through cancer and my dad (and mom, his amazing primary caregiver) through Lewy body dementia (BRUTAL). All of that is hard, but what I’m proud of is that in the midst of this I have lost 100 lbs and created the most spectacular garden with my kids, and I’ve laughed and smiled (authentically) more than I’ve cried. Literal roses and thorns. What a year!

I’m really proud of running a sub-2 hour half marathon (a PR for me!) a couple weeks ago!!! Still riding that high haha

I’m lying in bed next to my nine year old son and he whispered, “Mom, I’m scared on something….I’m scared of odd sided shapes. They make me feel uncomfortable!!! If the Eiffel tower was a triangle, I would NEVER GO NEAR IT.” [Ed. note: he has never been to France.] I’m proud that as a mom I kept a straight face while exploring this fear (imparnumerophobia) in much greater depth.

I am proud of persevering through some challenging times and personalities in an organization I care about! And I am proud of being in year 41 in my reaching career! And I am proud that as of this morning, I’ve lost 94 pounds!

I recently ran a half marathon and it was so dang hard, but I did it. I was so proud and I was sobbing at the end. I’m also proud of how I’m parenting my kids. Perfectly imperfect most days, but they are amazing little people. Having a kid in middle school is just a real jolt to the system. They aren’t babies and toddlers anymore. We’ve leveled up and survived!

1. I have been interviewing for two years to get a new job. On the day of my interview last Friday the construction crew started drilling outside my wall so right before the interview I had to improvise. Booked a wework and brought my external monitor with me on the train. I am really proud that I was able to think on my feet and still do the interview under pressure. 2. I ended a Situationship because he was not meeting my needs just two days ago. He kept pushing my boundaries so I held firm and cut off contact. Although I never really liked him it still hurts me that it ended badly and so abruptly and I lost someone that I talked to every day for two months. But I’m really proud that I held firm and told him that his behavior is not good enough for me. Dating in your 30s is really hard and men will keep pushing and pushing your boundaries, but I’m really proud how recently I’ve been calling men out and putting them back in their places.

I am proud of my ability to think up practical, reasonable solutions to any dilemma.

In the hormonal soup of peri-meno my confidence is shaky but 10 years ago I was diagnosed with a chronic illness that deconstructed (I would have said destroyed back then) my life. I have navigated my own treatments without a medical leader, dealt with insurance, medical misogyny, and now, find myself with a stable body and strength I have not had in a decade. I am still dealing with the lingering anxiety but I really have come so far.

Lately, I feel deeply proud of my compassion, empathy, and problem solving, particularly with strangers. I’ve recently started two new jobs: substitute teaching preschool through 8th grade and working with residents in a senior living community. Every day I walk into rooms with people I don’t know (or know minimally) and my job is to establish a feeling of safety and support. I listen deeply, find solutions, keep documentation, and make referrals. I endeavor to put people at ease. The work with seniors has been heavy yet rewarding this week. My caseload of residents are 70+, several are widowed, and many are bed-ridden or navigating Parkinson’s, dementia, ALS, and Alzheimer’s. I don’t know whether they’re having a great day or feeling defeated by their bodies or memories until I walk into the room. Today I found one of my residents feeling deeply depressed. I listened carefully to what he told me and asked gentle questions. Drawing from my teaching experience and mandated reporter training, I assessed intentions to self harm and modeled a mindfulness exercise. I encouraged him to have a change of scenery, and sat with him in the lobby over a cup of coffee. I then decided to grab my laptop and paperwork and sit with him in companionable silence for another half hour until his lunchtime. I ultimately spent 75 minutes with him, far more than our usual 15 minute exercise routine, but it felt like the right thing to do. As I left, he sighed, wondered aloud “where did I find you?” and thanked me. I’ve spent maybe an hour total with him over the past six weeks but was able to provide critical companionship (and later make a referral for further, ongoing support) at a time when he needed someone to notice him. I feel really proud that I can show up in this way for my loved ones, as well as those I’m newly meeting. The world is a challenging place righty now, but small moments of compassion make a difference.

I’m proud of being an excellent mother to my toddler, despite life kicking my butt recently. I was raised in an abusive home, and it took me many years of therapy to heal from the trauma. I’m patient, warm, calm, emotionally attuned, and fun. Our bond feels so secure and close. I delight in him, and I know he feels adored and well cared for. I’m able to recognize when my own mental health is declining, get help, and prioritize my own well-being, so I can continue to be there for him.

Proud of not having kids and enjoying a blissful child-free lifestyle. There’s so much pressure to have kids as a woman, even today, or to take on a caretaking role with other people’s children and I just do not want to do it.

I’m in what feels like a never ending busy season, but I’ve still managed to carve out consistent time for my creative work. And, much more importantly, I’ve been consistently patient with myself about the progress that I’m making, instead of feeling bad or berating myself for not doing more faster.

I’m running faster now at 47 than I did on my highschool cross country team. I started doing Pilates and lifting weights (just 10lbs) instead of only running for fitness and that has made all the difference! I wish I had known how strong I would feel by incorporating strength and resistance training.

We homeschool our 5 and 8 year old, and it’s so easy to feel like we’re not doing enough, offering enough, BEING enough. This morning I poured a glass of juice for each of the boys who were sitting on the couch with my husband, a heap of arms and legs and blankets. My five year old reached for his glass, but I said “Hey buddy, let’s wait until you’re stable!” His reply? “I’m never going to be stable. Everything with energy is unstable!” “Well,” chimed in the eight year old, “to one degree or another.” I’m proud of these boys, and I’m proud of the education they’re getting!

I have been thinking a lot about getting my friends together (sans kiddos) and making them all share something they’re proud of right now, so I’m so grateful for this post. I am so proud of myself for tackling an international move, getting my family settled, starting a new job, taking a graduate level course, making dinner every night, and getting up almost every morning to do 15-30 minutes of exercise!

I am really proud that I finished 27 rounds of chemoradiation today.

A friend and I have talked about when you lose a parent you lose an unconditional cheerleader. I’m glad this community can be each other cheerleaders. Anyone get a paper published recently? A good performance review? A compliment from your kid? Send it my way! Even if I don’t understand it, I’ll be proud of you.

I never thought I would think this, or say this, because motherhood always felt to me like something that would not come naturally to me or be a defining part of my identity, but today I feel proud of my mothering. And not just to my own kids, but to a slew of neighborhood kids who have it rough in their own homes, to my own mother who is getting older and needs more help and attention, to my friend who is going through a divorce, to my coworkers who have been seeking me out during time of instability at our company. Who would have thought – I’m a mama bear!

I’m proud that I explored and respected my deepest feelings about the possibility of having children – and landed on not having them. I nurture and shower attention on resources on the humans (small and grown) and animals that mean a lot to me with *no* guilt attached to being childfree.

So my thing was actually spurred by the comment you made, Joanna, on your recent (great!) post on thinking about death, where you mentioned your sister going around the house memorizing a (very bleak!!) Phillip Larkin poem! I thought of your sister shortly after the post one night when I couldn’t sleep and was ruminating about terrible things in the world. I read a lot of poetry and have had Elizabeth Bishop’s poem The Moose on my mind for a while. That night, I decided to start memorizing it. And as of yesterday, I have the whole thing memorized! It’s pretty long so I feel quite proud of myself! I find it to be a really calming, expansive poem, and it has felt like unlocking something magic to just be able to start saying it to myself, even just in my head, whenever I want.

I’m a peri/post-menopausal woman (who the hell knows where on the spectrum I am??), whose body has changed in the last few years, and I’m proud of myself for trying to embrace these changes by sewing my own clothes. I recently made my first skirt – a pattern I had been wanting to try for ages – and the feeling of wearing something that made me feel so comfortable in my skin (and that I made!) was so affirming and joyful. I’m so motivated to try my hand at other patterns as I build my custom wardrobe!

I’m proud of advocating for important things even when it’s not convenient, or when it feels like no one else is doing it. I’m proud that I’ve finished almost 60 audiobooks this year (last year I only got to 48) and have forced myself to listen to audiobooks and crochet instead of obsessively checking the news and/or doom scrolling. I am proud that despite being a very disorganized person who gets easily anxious and overwhelmed when thinking about any organization or house maintenance task, I made a little progress on my organization and house maintenance this week. A tiny bit of progress, but still.

I’m proud of how I handled my mom’s death, and who I’ve become in the 11 years since. A loss of that magnitude can easily make you bitter or guarded, and while I still miss her deeply all the time, I don’t think it hardened me. Instead, it made me pay closer attention. It taught me how fragile our time here really is, and made me realize that almost everyone you pass on the street is carrying something heavy that you can’t see. My mom’s motto was always “live simple, love like crazy.” Trying to honor that by soaking up the good stuff and loving the people closest to me as hard as I can is something I’m proud of.

I am proud of recognizing and honoring a real and selfish need, vocalizing it to my partner, and not giving in to multitude of other hassles and obligations that could have easily stood in the way of meeting it. As a result, I am ecstatic to be spending a handful of days in New York on my own visiting some of my favorite women in the world this week. I’m so happy I could cry.

I’m proud of myself for co-founding a professional design org for designers in my city/state. I’m the president, and I wrote rules of incorporation, files with the secretary of state, and successfully applied for 503(c)3 status. We just hosted one of our monthly Drink & Draw events at a bowling alley, and it was a blast. People have become real friends and gotten great work advice from our events! I was a big part of making it happen! It’s funny to look back and realize you’ve become an adult with real work experience. Our board joked about making signet rings, and so I went and ordered one with our logo from Etsy. I wear it when I have a big day coming up, as a reminder that I’ve done powerful things in my generous, collaborative way.

I take great pride in my competence at work as an administrator, supervisor, and communicator. I am a good parent. Also, I am proud of my body and all it does for me: make babies, have sex, walk me where I want to go, and respond to healthy food and exercise. What privilege!

Last year I completed my 200 hour yoga training, and am actually TEACHING YOGA!!!

I love this post. I am proud of each of you! I’ve got a few major ones: – leaving an emotionally abusive marriage this January (thank you to so many amazing COJ comments when I mentioned this back then), recognizing that things were getting worse and not better, and that my older daughter was seeing how he talked to me and internalizing it – leaving said marriage even though our baby was 6 months old when I asked for the divorce – keeping incredible, decades long friendships going strong – I’ve never relied on my women more, or needed their guidance and the fun they bring to my life – pushing through 4 years of secondary infertility, including a horrific TFMR, with so much perseverance and intelligence – it takes so much effort on every level to keep going. I even managed to switch jobs to get some IVF coverage. Even if it hadn’t worked out, I would remain proud of all of the effort I put in. It was done with love because I loved having my oldest so much. – going through a home birth and its wild aftermath. – being fun loving and caring with my family and friends.

I am proud of calling CPS when that was the right thing to do.

I’m proud of the work I’m doing to be a better partner and mom. I’m working on being a better listener and more thoughtful. I’m working on not squashing or ignoring other people’s feelings. I’m also proud of myself for trying hard not to people please so much and attune to what I want. I’m also proud of my baked goods and cooking. Some told me this week that the meal I delivered was the best she got in her meal train and I felt very proud of that! I’m also proud of my fledgling garden.

I ended my loving but not-quite-right-for-me relationship of five years and bought a condo as a single woman, all within a month! I’ve never been so sad/scared/excited/anxious/ready. Ahhh!

Yes! Let’s be proud out loud together! I’m proud of growing my sweater repair business in a way that feels really organic and delightful. The work feels meaningful and I love being warm and friendly with my customers over text as we figure out what their sweaters need. Heartening prompt, thanks for asking!

I am proud that after over 30 years of being a paediatric speech and language therapist, I still get excited when a child finally produces the target sound. You model the sound, talk about the sound and how it’s made, make sure they can see your mouth/teeth/tongue/lips, get them to listen to you saying the sounds ALOT……..then they finally say /k/ instead of /t/……….so exciting!!!!