Self deprecation is not humility

Hey lovelies, 

How are you today? How has your week, month, year been? Good? I hope so. Meanwhile, you guys are actually the best. I look at my views every day and I’m really wowed at the number of people that take out time to read what this girl has to say. Thank you. 

So, here I am dropping another post for your reading pleasure. 🙂

Today, I have a serious issue to discuss with you. Something we’ve all been guilty of at one point in our lives or another. I’m guilty, you’re guilty too. 

It’s this issue of self-deprecation. The issue of undervaluing ourselves when we ought not to. I’m very aware that we are told by different people at different times to be our biggest critic. Well, great. But that doesn’t mean we should undermine our success. Many times, we receive compliments from people and instead of accepting it with our full chest, we tend to brush it off. No. Really, no. You’ve done a good job, accept the compliment. It’s really not humility; you don’t have to downplay your success to be humble. Okay? Okay. 

People often equate self-deprecation with self-awareness but I’m here to tell you there’s a thin line between these concepts. Self-awareness is simply being aware of your strengths and weaknesses but what you do with the awareness is where self-deprecation comes in. Are you focusing on your weaknesses and making it the highlight of your life? Now that’s self-deprecation. 

For you to get to that point, it means you’re already aware of your successes. So why downplay them? 

I know that sometimes the self-deprecating comments we make are jokes but these jokes become an issue when we begin to use them all the time. It becomes something we repeatedly hear and it just naturalizes. We get used to hearing about how “terrible” we are at something or how we didn’t achieve a feat by ourselves and it somehow becomes the reality. Also, when you self-deprecate, it not only has an effect on you but also those around you. We automatically start up a false narrative about ourselves which people quickly, very quickly, run with. 

This does not only apply to successes per se. It also boils down to the little compliments we receive daily. On our appearance, on an intelligent comment we made, on good behavior or manners. The list goes on. When you receive compliments, accept it, own it, it’s yours. Say a firm thank you accompanied with that beautiful smile of yours. 

Now if someone hasn’t already told you today, you’re amazing. 

Thank you for stopping by;

Don’t forget to leave your comments below. 

Nazam 💜