What have you got to be proud about…

In the words of Heather Small and a song that usually resonates at any conference that needs its delegates to feel uplifted or the Olympians at the London 2012 games - What have YOU done today to make YOU feel PROUD?

Having done relatively not much I was finding it hard to find anything I had done that I had been PROUD of today.

Sometimes it is the achievements of others that make me feel equally uplifted and PROUD. Anyone who frequents Twitter will be aware of the amazing resource it is and continues to be. Offering advice, experience, ideas, views, help, comfort, empathy, sympathy and even a kick up the backside for some of us.

“It’s good to test yourself and develop your talents and ambitions as fully as you can and achieve greater success, but I think success is the feeling you get from a job well done, and the key thing is to do the work.”

— Peter Thiel

Claire

Quit alcohol and took up yoga. During one week of isolation, I read an amazing book called ‘How to Quit Like a Woman’ by Holly Whitaker, which made me re-evaluate my relationship with alcohol and decided to remove it from my life :) So far, it's been a liberating change to my life: 114 days sober and enjoying it. It has been a little challenging at times (i.e., the Luminous summer party when the cocktails were flowing!) but so far, it's been worth it and an interesting journey.

Greg

1. Learned to bake delicious sourdough bread (I guess I'm not the only one with that one!). It all came together as it was lockdown, plus I absolutely love (nice) bread, so thought why not try? 2. Sold one of my photos to a San Francisco-based advertising agency, to be used to advertise the Adobe Photoshop smartphone app, through Behance, an Adobe-run creative online platform for sharing work (I was contacted by them, haven’t done anything myself apart from uploading work).
3. Became a British citizen. Brexit is kinda scary, so I applied, passed the test, paid a lot of money, and was granted the citizenship.

Richard

Reconnected with people. This was due to the country opening again at last. This allowed me to visit friends and family up north, and to start going into the office on a regular basis.

Suzanne

Being more resilient and adaptable: adapting my skillset in a different environment. I was working in a village store and café during COVID in 2020 – customer-facing and with managerial challenges from both sides due to global uncertainty and hence vulnerability.

Laura H

Lost nearly 20kg. Between December 2020 and today I have changed my lifestyle and mentality on myself and life – I’m at the gym most of my free time and cut out the junk (as much as I can). This came from reading Florence Given’s ‘Women Don’t Owe You Pretty’.