A Celebration Of You

Why do we have such a vested interest in believing our victories were achieved alone? I know that we live in a culture that is enamored with the pull yourself up by your bootstraps story. We want, even need, to believe that we raised our kids, built our company, conquered our giants, and achieved our goals, primarily by ourselves. We dug deep and harnessed our will power, ingenuity, strength, and made it happen.

There is only one problem with this mindset….

Practically, most of the time it isn’t true. Most of us have had more help and assistance then we remember. The generous check that came when we needed it the most. The note of encouragement when we were ready to give up. The promotion when we thought about changing careers. The act of kindness when we were the most discouraged. This help forever changed our lives.

These small acts of kindness are easy to forget. But, why? When reminded of them, most of us would affirm that they made a huge difference in our lives. However, when we retell our story, we often omit them. We become the lone hero. Why?

The answer isn’t pretty, in short, it is pride. A pride that rewrites our past and communicates to us, “you were all alone” or “you did it by yourself” or “you are a rockstar”! It makes us feel good, strong, and powerful. It is intoxicating!

Pride can be dangerous for many reasons, but in this case, let me highlight one. This kind of pride deprives me of the joy that comes from celebrating you. Saying thank you! Honoring you! Remembering the contribution you made that made things better and easier.

This year I want to be better at remembering. I’m not going to buy the lie that I did it alone. I didn’t. I couldn’t. I’m going to pay closer attention to the contributions of others. The little things and the big. I am going to remember.

Then I’m going to celebrate. Not me, but you.