Journal Prompt: How did I surprise myself today?

A journal prompt : how did I surprise myself today and what does that reveal about me?

I received some praise yesterday from a leader at work, over an action on my part that has been a bit of a struggle for me. I'll try not to bore you, dear reader, with the minute details of my job but...

There's a certain function that I am asked to do in my job, related to logging and publishing internal notes about my interactions with external stakeholders at work. The system we use to log these notes has been  suboptimal in the past, and I haven't been all that diligent about doing the needful things.

Over the past year I've been working to update the infrastructure of this system so it can be more user-friendly and valuable for my team. Slowly but surely, the system has become optimal and my team has been using it more consistently. 

Yesterday I published an update for my leadership. It has become pretty routine for me at this point and I didn't give it a second thought, but this particular leader called it out for our team as a good example.

The surprise? The public praise made me feel good about myself, and proud of the changes I've made at work over the last year. I don't need to receive praise to feel good about myself. I am pretty good at my job - I started at the bottom and worked my way up without the benefit of higher education. I have worked hard over the course of my career to develop my skills and be successful. I don't need others to tell me that I'm good at what I do.

I don't experience this often, this pride at being acknowledged publicly as a good example. I did not expect that to be uplifting, but it meant a lot to me. I'm not exactly sure what this reveals about me, but it feels like a softening of some of my harder edges and that feels a bit like growth.

What has someone done for you recently that made you feel good about yourself?

If you are looking to incorporate mindful journaling into your daily routine with the support of a coach, please consider reaching out to @coach_kpr on IG. I don’t know a kinder, more compassionate person who listens without judging.