You’re so full of yourself!
"You're so full of yourself!"
Could you imagine yourself saying "thank you" to this comment?
I’d like to offer up the idea that it’s okay to be full of yourself.
It’s not an easy idea to accept. Most would cringe knowing others see them this way. I know I would.
As a woman, I’ve learned it’s safer to play small.
I sometimes worry that I said or did something that came off as conceited:
“Was it really necessary to write that comment about myself in my presentation bio?”, ”Maybe I should have kept that Facebook post to myself?”
As someone who’s been living in Korea for almost twenty years, I’ve observed how modesty and humility are highly valued in this culture. There’s a general discomfort that seems to spread across a group of friends when someone talks about their success.
The same goes for the small rural Acadian community I grew up in Nova Scotia, Canada. It’s much safer to downplay your achievements. In both of these cultures, you won’t make it easy on yourself by acting superior.
But what if it isn’t about superiority? What if it’s simply about honoring your gifts in a way that you aren’t wasting your energy worrying about what others think? Imagine the ease you’d feel if you could just fully be yourself.
Imagine the space that would clear up if all you had to focus on was expressing your skills and knowledge without fear of judgment. My mind goes to exciting places when I consider this freedom.
In Brené Brown’s *Living Brave video series, she speaks to Oprah who shares how she used to be worried about being told she was full of herself. But Oprah, being Oprah, found a way to repurpose that judgment:
“Now I work at being full. I want to be so full that I’m overflowing. So when you see me coming, it ought to make you proud, to borrow a line from Maya Angelou’s Phenomenal Woman.
When you see me coming it ought to make you proud, and what you see is a woman so full I’m overflowing with enough to share with everybody else.
I’m going to own the fullness without ego, without arrogance, but with an amazing sense of gratitude that I’ve been born at a time where I am female on the planet, and I have the great pleasure and freedom to fill myself up.”
*Note: Brené and Oprah’s conversation on fullness starts at 12:05.
Overflowing.
I imagine myself with a perpetually full tank of gas. Think of the places I could go and the people I could see!
It’s impossible to get to these places with half a tank. But this is what happens when I try to make myself smaller in order to fit in. This is what happens when I try not to offend anyone.
This fullness isn’t about flaunting my gifts. It’s not about bragging about what I’ve done just to make myself look bigger and you smaller.
To honour my gifts without ego or arrogance requires me to be appreciative of the experience I’ve gained, and the skills and knowledge that come along with it.
When I’m grateful, I honour everyone and everything that helped me succeed. I fill myself up with this greatness, and in return, I take myself places I could never have imagined.
What does your fullness look like?
