Humility

It is remarkably easy to take pride in one’s own accomplishments, ambitions, and titles.  Be it professional, academic, or athletic success, it feels natural to take pride in accomplishing the goals we set for ourselves.  After all, we worked hard and put forth the effort to realize our own personal objectives.  From our big accomplishments to minute activities, pride seems to seep into countless aspects of our lives.

I was reminded of this just a few weeks ago.  Between an eye doctor appointment, minor wrist surgery, and family coming to visit from out of state, I found myself back home from college three weekends in a row.  Given the circumstances and my love for the game of football, I went to see my high school football team play each Friday night.  Having been a part of the team the previous year, I was excited to see how they would fare as they began the new season and had been missing the special atmosphere and hype that surrounds high school football.

Needless to say, when I entered into the stadium, everything had changed.  I was no longer a player.  I was merely a spectator.  I was sitting in the stands surrounded by hundreds of people who had no idea who I was.  I had become enormously prideful in my role as a former player.  At first, I couldn’t place this feeling.  All I knew is that I was frustrated and felt out of place.  It wasn’t until a couple weeks later that my mom pointed it out- it’s a very humbling experience to take a step back from that which we feel we deserve credit for.

She nailed it.

It is often times difficult to separate our identity from our achievements and aspirations.  It’s easy to define ourselves by what we do, rather than why we do it and for whom we do it.  Ultimately, our purpose is far greater than what we achieve for ourselves.

There is great strength in humility.  In his blog post entitled “The Five Benefits of Humility for a Leader”, GiANT IMPACT President and CEO, Jeremie Kubicek, outlines several advantages that come with humility.  His first point struck a core with me:

 1. Humility gives a leader the capacity to lead out of a position of strength. “Though humility is often viewed as a weakness in our loud, proud, take-no-prisoners culture today, it’s actually an incredible gesture of strength. First, it’s a choice. That’s the difference between being humiliated and being humbled. When you’re humiliated, a negative occurrence, it’s usually at the hands of someone else. But when you’re humble, it’s a consequence of a series of choices you’ve made.” jeremiekubicek.com/the-five-benefits-of-humility-for-a-leader/

In short, humility allows us to focus on the needs of others, rather than ourselves.  As a result, the door opens up for greater opportunity to encourage, inspire, and empower others to live in a way that reflects a greater purpose within their lives.