so proud of you

Those are pretty big words, friends!

They need to be said more frequently. Both from your mouth to others and also to you from other mouths.

The other day my friend Lisa was over. She's pretty amazing. She is talented and smart and artsy and I like all those things about her plus a lot more things. She also has a basset hound named Sterling who she shows more pictures of than of her kids. (Don't tell them, but truthfully, they are probably already aware.)

We always talk about a lot of different things including our hopes and goals for the next few months and years and then we get excited and squeal because it's so fun to share with someone who gets it!

So I showed her this thing that I had published for sale on Amazon. And then I showed her the next project I was working on. She looked me straight in the eye and said, "I'm proud of you," but with more enthusiasm than what I can post in words. And then she said it again just to make sure it registered in my brain: "I'm proud of you!"

And I stopped in my mental tracks and smiled like a little kid. She was proud of me! And she was intentional about making sure that I knew that it wasn't just said in passing; she meant it!

Those words stick. I'll keep those words in mind every time I see that project or work on a similar one. I will hold onto that through criticism and I will use those words as motivation.

I'm a grown-up. Imagine if the children of this world heard that more often! (As I wrote the words "I'm proud of you" earlier in this blog, it hit me smack in the forehead: my daughter is sitting 6 inches away from me at the table and had an amazing accomplishment this evening so I told her those exact words: "I'm proud of you!" And her face lit up. I'm telling you, those are big words!)

We don't always vocalize what we feel but I think, even when we think good things of others. But we should, don't you think?

So I propose a challenge: let's try to tell someone that we are proud of them once a day this week. Or perhaps the challenge for you might be to give a word of encouragement once a day this week. Whatever works for you, I think you should do it because the world needs more positivity.