What About Yourself Do You Take Pride In?

The other day, I was grocery shopping and listening to a funny podcast with Amy Poehler, when something struck me…

During the interview, Poehler continually acknowledged things she liked about herself. She’d say “I take great pride in…” and then mention traits like being a quick thinker, doing a job well, or being part of Generation X. She was hilarious and charming, and it didn’t sound braggy — you felt proud along with her!

Here’s a snippet:

I remember I was doing SNL one time and you’re blocking the scenes. You’ll have these in-between moments with the hosts that are just these small talky moments. Christopher Walken, undoubtedly probably one of the most eccentric people ever, right? We were doing some scene and we had to sit down at a table and wait for them to figure out some camera thing. And he just sat in complete silence…

And I didn’t want to bother him. So, then I started being like, wow, how long is this going to go? How long are we going? And, you know, it was like a Pixar journey in my head of how much I wanted to talk and not talk and sweating and not sweating and then getting mad at him and then thinking he was amazing or whatever…

I don’t think the same journey was going on in his head… I just I love to entertain. I take great pride in people feeling good and secure and safe. I like doing the things.

While walking down the aisles of Trader Joe’s, I felt inspired by this woman recognizing her wonderfulness. Her attitude also reminded me of Snoop Dog’s acceptance speech after he got a Hollywood star: “I wanna thank me. I wanna thank me for believing in me. I wanna thank me for doing all this hard work.” Yes!

So, tell me: What about yourself do you take great pride in? I would love to hear… xoxo

P.S. 12 comments on kindness.