I don’t know about you, but I’ve always been taught to be humble. Bragging is rude, boasting about your accomplishments make you seem like an arrogant jerk, you come off as vain or cocky, etcetera. We’ve been programmed to view people who do these things in a negative light. “They’re overconfident” or “they’re full of themselves” or “they’re so self-centered”.
I’m calling BS on the whole thing.
We live in a society where everyone is struggling with their self-esteem and loving themselves. We’re taught how to break our back to love and support other people and applaud their success, but to look the other way of our own successes. Being humble actually means that you are “having or showing a modest or low estimate of one’s own importance” – WHY SHOULD WE DO THIS?! Why should we lower our view of ourselves instead of giving ourselves credit for the wonderful things we do or what amazing people we are?
Instructor Amanda wrote an incredible post about dealing with negative feelings of self-worth. And how many of you thought she was crazy for ever feeling that way about herself and her skills? I know I did. I remember the first class I ever took with her and being so mesmerized at her dancing abilities. So why is it so easy for everyone else to see our worth and we can’t see it ourselves? I think a lot of it goes back to the fact that we’re essentially given tools to only see the negative in ourselves. And the minute we even start to feel proud of something we’ve accomplished there is that little voice that says “well so-and-so does it better” or “so-and-so got it right away”.
This is one of the things I love about Aerial Dance. Every class is about celebrating YOUR success and YOUR journey. I love being in another room and hearing the screams and cheers of the instructors or your classmates as you accomplish something. I love that right now this is the one community that has continued to want to see each other and check in with each other even with the world shut down. I know that a lot of people have been struggling with negative feelings about themselves during quarantine, but all I can say is we need to bring that “I’m a badass and can do anything” attitude with us everywhere we go! You’re stuck with you and you only for the rest of you life, so you SHOULD love yourself. Because if we’re playing a game of who would you rather be stuck with for eternity – someone you love or someone you hate – I bet we all pick someone we love!
So PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, STOP LOWERING YOUR FEELINGS OF SELF-WORTH! Brag about your accomplishments, be proud of what you do (and not just in the studio), and most importantly, love yourself.