24 Meaningful Achievements You Can Never Post on Your Social Media

Warning — this article isn’t going to make you rich, help you become a corporate hotshot or gain a million ‘followers’. But it may put a smile on your face and ease your heart a little if you are feeling insecure in any way.

Photo by Simon Wilkes on Unsplash

2021 — The year we thought we’d go back to the “before-times”, an era of sunshine, rainbows, hugs and no masks. Yet, here we are languishing in intense sorrow and possessed by an untamable anxiety that makes 2020 look like a breeze.

If you’re feeling miserable because your life is on hold and you’re sad that your time to shine was thwarted by invisible hostile forces, you’re not alone.

So much for making the Forbes 30 under 30 list, traveling to 25 countries before turning 25, finding love and riding off into the sunset or even making a fortune trading bitcoins (because apparently even high-schoolers can do this now).

In this article, I’d like to point out 24 things, a number of which you may have achieved over the past few years, but aren’t acknowledging because the world doesn’t assign any value to them though they are significant achievements in their own right.

Even if the world doesn’t celebrate these accomplishments, I hope that you’ll take a moment to do so. Not everything will resonate with you, but please acknowledge the ones that do and never take them for granted.

1. I applaud you for becoming the person that someone looks up to — whether that is a younger sibling or a junior colleague or even just a friend. If you’ve made yourself an upstanding individual by escaping the trappings of your socio-economic status and pulled yourself up by your bootstraps, you should be proud of yourself
2. It is no mean feat that you’ve nurtured so many deep friendships over the years having becoming someone who is worthy of people’s trust
3. I am proud of you for taking a stand even at the risk of being disowned, persecuted, or disliked
4. I stand with you in solidarity for all the times you’ve cried and pacified your fears at 2 AM or 3 AM because you didn’t want to burden your family with your problems
5. I am grateful for all the times you’ve taken charge and resolved a crisis because you were the only one who had the emotional energy to handle it
6. I acknowledge all the times you bit your tongue and stopped yourself from saying, “I told you so”, and instead chose to comfort the person who shared their problems with you
7. I respect your sense of duty for helping out that colleague/junior who was drowning in work even though you could have easily refused
8. I commend you for growing to become a person who used to be bullied to someone who stands up to bullies and empowers others to do the same
9. Massive Kudos for repeatedly trying to stay fit and squeeze a quick workout in the day though life/work always seem to interfere
10. A big thank you for learning to listen without feeling the need to judge or fix someone and making it safe for people to talk freely with you
11. I’m glad that you consciously used your privilege to donate your time/effort to COVID relief measures. (Yes, even your CRED coins)
12. I admire your tenacity for staying home, religiously wearing a mask and taking all safety precautions even though most people chose to get careless at some point during the last few months
13. I appreciate the side of you that always does the right thing, no matter how small (not violating the traffic lights/turning off a running tap/putting the clothes away properly) even though no one would notice if you slipped up
14. I admire your bravery for risking your heart to love again though you’ve been badly burnt
15. You’ve gone above and beyond the call of duty, every time you’ve smiled and comforted someone even though you were falling apart yourself
16. I am delighted that you’ve finally learned not to feel guilty for prioritizing your well-being over others’ needs
17. You are a star for facing your problems head on and failing instead of running away from them
18. I admire you for having the courage to have difficult conversations and end painful ties to create a better life for yourself and the ones you care about
19. I am truly indebted to you for being the one friend who checks on their tribe when they’re down/being ravaged by the pandemic in various degrees. In an era of low-effort WhatsApp forwards, if you’re the person who has been verifying hospital bed leads, to oxygen cylinder hotlines and even just amplifying verified resources and messages, you’ve made a difference
20. I congratulate you for being the bigger person and having the maturity to let old grudges go
21. I deeply admire your resilience for tirelessly applying for jobs, attending interviews and handling rejection after rejection without giving up
22. For all the times you’ve shown grace under pressure by not letting your juniors/team bear the brunt of your personal frustrations, I respect you
23. You deserve a pat on the back (and maybe a hug) for learning to see the good in people who’ve hurt you and for acknowledging their imperfect humanity
24. Lastly, I celebrate you for showing up imperfectly, awkwardly and authentically — never stop that because the world needs more of it

If you’ve read this far and if you feel slightly better at all, consider sharing this with someone who needs to read this today.

Stay safe, stay healthy and stay happy.