In response to today’s daily prompt, our writing challenge for Bloganuary, I’d like to tell you the favorite part about myself.

I must say, choosing the favorite part about myself sounds so incredibly pretentious.

I always feel like calling out one’s own self-positivity as a bit prideful. Whether that is a cultural thing, the way I was raised, or my own self-check within my worldview. It leads to this place where there is little room for humility when it comes to saying such things. I think Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. outlined it well in his final sermon, The Drum Major Instinct.

“You can do it!” turns into “Because you’re worth it” turns into “Love yourself” turns into “Look at me! Look at me!” These are slogans I’ve typically shied away from in a certain personal context as the spiral leads to a very “me-centered,” self-procclaimation of ego greatness, and over-inflated approach to life, which is not a place I want to end up ultimately. I’ve never taken a selfie in front of the bathroom mirror, never even posted a selfie to social media at all.

So this can be a hard one to answer.

It’s not always measurable either, like the crowd numbers that keep a talented comedian coming back to perform, or a musician’s record sales, or a physical body part you’ve come to embrace.

Feeling good about accomplishments, celebrating aspects of life I worked so hard to achieve, and humbly patting myself on the back for a job well done are all things I can sort of explain much more easily when telling others about the narrative of my life.

I think for everyone, it can be this bar that somewhat bends a bit because it’s much easier to tell people about what you’ve done and put that on display.

It begs the question, do the favorite things about yourself line up with what others are finding favorite in you? Does that offer up some sort of validation? And through that validation does that give you the confidence and permission to make that your favorite too? Do you attribute that particular attribute to being the origin, sole influence, or is it the result?

It is the conundrum of an artist coming up with the selling price of one’s work. Causing you to evaluate the worth of just a single piece or perhaps your entire life’s work. That named thing is deeply tied to the worth of one’s self as a person.

It proposes a question to explore those deeper spaces in your heart.

Much of the same concept as when The Caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland asks Alice, “Who are yooooou?”

I think it was my brother who was telling me about a book, sci-fi I’m sure, who said people are more doomed and experience more internal conflict at the thought of losing who they are rather than what they are.

It’s not the question of what you are but who you are.

I don’t think I truly embraced who I was or even realized this favorite part of myself until I immersed myself in other cultures where relationships are valued over productivity and busyness. It’s these experiences that brought much perspective into my life.

I don’t think I would answer it so casually either except it’s an actual joke in my family to say random things followed by a jarring phrase that’s turned into this “inside joke” that takes unsuspecting people a second to comprehend. We laugh. We picked up this funny phrasing after watching Shark Tank on t.v. It comes from an episode where Kevin O’Leary responded to a contestant about a project evaluation that he was bantering with and said, “That’s the one thing I really like about myself.”

Somehow this bold response has become a comfortable place of honesty.

So I’d say in answer to the prompt, being independent is the favorite part about myself.

It probably stems from my mother letting me have full reign of the kitchen when I was just a little girl. Mixer and all. Though she says I was always like that. As a baby, I only wanted to be held for so long before wanting to go off exploring.

I even sold homemade candies and cookies all packaged and ribboned up in the neighborhood one year. I wanted a little Christmas spending money. A moment I look back to and think, wow I can’t believe my parents let me do that!

I literally went knocking door-to-door with a big container full of pretty Christmas treats and a money bag full of all the change I could muster up. I was like I don’t know 9, 10 years old. I even got invited into one particular home to have hot chocolate, a precious story for another time.

Whether it’s figuring things out myself or this hunger for thrill-seeking adventure, it’s led me to some unique and amazing experiences and I’ve met the most incredible people along the way.

I’m not risk adverse that’s for sure.

Well except… I would never eat by myself in a restaurant unless it’s the hotel café on a business trip. I also would never sit alone in a movie theater. People do it all the time, so I suppose it’s apparent that I’m pretty independent not that independent.

That’s also one thing I like about myself.

How about you, what is the favorite part about yourself?