APX-IV-0068
“I won big and I'm refusing to feel guilty about being proud of it.”
Somewhere you learned that pride is dangerous, so you smother every win in guilt. But guilt over an honest victory is not humility — it is shrinking. You can be grateful and proud at once. Let the win be a win. The people who love you want to see you stand tall in it.
Your Practice
- Name the guilt for what it is: a habit of making yourself smaller.
- Separate gratitude from guilt. Be grateful for help; proud of your work.
- Tell one person you're proud, and let them be proud with you.
- Mark the win somewhere you'll see it. Strength deserves a record.
The Architects
“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly.”
— Theodore Roosevelt, 'Citizenship in a Republic,' the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910