Are You Proud of Yourself?

You should be. 

 

In 2010, I was put into a situation where I was being made redundant from a job that not only did I love but I had been doing for 8 years. It was all I knew as an adult. I had started as the Office Junior at aged 18 and worked my way up to become the Senior Consultant. It wasn’t easy in the dog eat dog world of Recruitment. 

 

Whilst I was pondering what I should do, I spoke to my Gramps. He was my go-to for anything. My rock, honest to a fault, hero. We discussed the option of me setting up on my own. It’s ultimately what I did. During that conversation he discussed that he regretted not doing it himself. His dream was always to run his own business. At the end, I said I was going to do it. Success or Failure, I was going to give it a try. He turned to me that day, looked me square in the eyes and told me he was proud of me. “I’m proud of ya”. I can still hear him say it. 4 small words. 

 

4 small words that would change my life, forever. 

 

Since then, every decision I made I would run it past him. He passed away in 2012 and never got to see what I’ve achieved since that day. It’s one of the most heart-breaking things. To owe someone everything yet not being able to show them. ‘Look, because of you, I did this…’. So, since 2012, I adopted ‘what would Gramps do?’. It’s given me strength in times of darkness. I constantly strive to make him proud. Because he believed in me, when most people told me I was mad or stupid. 

 

Somewhere along the way I forgot that I needed to be proud of myself for the hard work too. Yes, Gramps pushed me off the cliff but it was me who swam when I hit the water. I forgot to tell myself ‘well done’ when things went well. I forgot to take pride in what I do. FOR ME. 

 

It’s a learning curve but I’ve started telling myself ‘I’m proud of ya’. Like a little internal High 5. You should learn how to do it too. Sometimes we don’t have friends or family around to be our on-site cheer leading squad. Sometimes we need to be proud of ourselves. 

 

In fact, I want you to finish this blog, and look back over the last week, month, this year, and find something you’re proud of and shout about it. @ me on social media, @MIH_Dee, and tell me what you’ve been up to! 

 

Let’s build a wall of pride, full of bricks containing the things we did right. 

Until next time, 

 

Dee x