Stopped being a selfish piece of shit and turned my life around.

I’m now happily married four years, I have a job (that I hate, but hey it’s a job), and I finally feel like I’m a good person (overall).

I am proud of the life I’ve built. Before my teens were over, I had completely bypassed all thought of college, knocked up a girl, gotten married, and quit my band (the band was Plan A for my life). I had no skills and no plan and I’m sure even the people that loved us most thought that our marriage was doomed.

But it wasn’t, and those people were wrong - even if the statistics were definitely on their side.

I am proud that I have 4 awesome kids…

I am proud that my wife and I are still actively falling in love every day, 20-something years later.

Honesty, I’m proud to be loved by an amazing woman…

Though conscious of my privilege, I am proud that I found a way to build a career and provide for my family despite having no education. I make over 200k now and that’s simply way, way more than I ever thought I would be able to pull down.

I released 2 albums and 2 EPs so far in the past 2 years.

Illustrated a whole book published by Penguin.

I don’t think I have the time and inclination to find illustration jobs anymore, but that was an awesome gig and I’d do it again if I had the opportunity

It took me until I was 24 to go back, but I just graduated college at 27. Despite being a 50s-60s student in high school, I got multiple honor roll placements.

Now just to find a job 😅

Studied and passed the US Customs Brokers exam on the first try.

So far, helped raise two solid kids, who look like their heads are screwed on right. Most of the credit goes to my wife, though.

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I insulated my own house despite not being particularly skilled (to say the least) and absolutely loathing DIY.

A bit more context. I live in a house that was built in the early 70s. When I bought it back in 2009, there was hardly any insulation and due to the way it was built it was draughty and cold. A few years ago, I had the walls insulated, which made the major rooms a bit warmer. However, the house was still cold, part of the problem being the crawlspace and concrete floor. Last year, I got all the debris out of my crawlspace and put a thick plastic film on the sandy floor. That had instant effects: not only did the humidity drop (and some occasional musty smells), but we also needed to use less natural gas to heat the house. This year, I finished that project by insulating the bottom of the concrete floor with thick rock wool. That job took me several weeks. First, i had to glue wooden slats to the bottom of the floor and then I had to apply the rock wool.

My DIY skills are poor. I did this alone. It was a hell of a job which I do not intend to do a second time. However, the rewards, both in terms of comfort and savings are great.

Nothing. Everyone one has made sure that I am proud of nothing or else.

I immigrated to Vietnam. It was… difficult, but I eventually made it work. I am happily married and run a small company.

Donated $4000 to Ukraine

The main product line of our company is basically all architectured and programmed by me.

Not sure about the whole idea of being proud of something. It seems to me that it is a concept that evaporates when you look closely at it.

However I am pleased with the role that I played in getting some meadows that were going to be sold off for housing included a nature reserve instead when I was the ranger for the site.

I’d created some good toad breeding habitat nearby and then I put in a lot of my own time in building a volunteer group and recording in detail where the toads went and how they used the land - including the area that was going to be sold - over the course of a few years. It turned out to be the largest recorded toad colony of its type in the UK one year. The data was a critical point in the final decision by the local authority.

The thing about being proud is that it seems odd to be proud of something over which you have no control. Well, OK, I did have control here: I chose to spend my time in doing this, certainly. But I can be quite determined about things like that - that is down to my temperament. Do I actually have control of my temperament - or was I just born that way? Even if I have developed my own temperament over the years - wouldn’t that simply be because I was born with the capability of developing it? And so on and so on. Ultimately it always seems to boil down to something over which I really couldn’t say that I have any control.

But I can be pleased at any of those, no matter what.

Landing a nice career that I truly enjoy and getting paid well for it. Despite not finishing any education or having any connections. I got here on merit and skilll alone.