Asklemmy

I've talked two people out of killing themselves.

I self published two books and am almost ready to do a third. No interest in being a famous author or making millions, just glad to get them out of my head and to know they are just what I intended them to be.

All these people posting inspirational stories and here I am with my first thought being "Finally saw the northern lights". Got some decent pictures too.

Honestly, just where I'm at in life. I've been pulling myself up by my bootstraps for all my life.

Grew up in bumfuck poorsville with abusive parents, joined the military, did some cool stuff, left and went to college, bought a house, graduated, sold the house, moved across country, got a job with my degree, and found a solid friendship group who encourage and care for me and vice versa.

This is all while suffering from an unseen disease that I was finally diagnosed with while in college and have been fighting against ever since.

I am proud of my achievements and I can really say to myself that I made it, despite everything, I made it.

Talked a friend out of suicide when COVID first hit and a bunch of people lost their jobs and homes. Now he's got a pretty sweet work from home job with full benefits and his own place again. Am very happy for him.

In the past 365 days I have gained almost half a million views and more than 4000 new subscribers on youtube :)

Bachelor's Degree. Not happy with the debt that came with it, and the lack of employment in the field since Covid and AI

Honestly, I’m struggling right now. Spent my 20’s waiting for something to happen that never did. Decided to change my life in my 30’s, and while I am a lot happier and more honest with myself in a lot of ways, I have also alienated people who were close to me by adopting new interests that they don’t share.

I try to meet new people, but it’s hard. The ones out socializing tend to be much younger or older than me, and the ones my age are having kids and stuff.

It has been really hard to find a balance between building the life I want to live, and not having changes isolate me to the point of loneliness.

If my wife goes, I may just have to cut everyone off and start fresh, but that terrifies me.

So, with all that, I guess I’m proud that I’m still trying and haven’t just given up completely and moved back in with mom like some of my contemporaries have.

Homeless at 18. First apartment at 20. Put myself through college going part time while working 2 jobs, 21-25. Bought my first home at 29. Hit 6 figures at 33. Now in the top 10% of earners in my city.

I had no one, no support network. Just me and a goal and strategic hard work every single day.

The tough part is I'm now in my mid 30s and have had very little life experience because all I've been doing is working. Never been on an airplane or have been on a vacation. No passport or friends or social life outside of 2 internet friends. It's been tough to sit down and figure out what will actually make me happy now that I've achieved my life goals.

Loving myself.

I’ve bought a house, got married, published two books, do stand-up and host a small game show, survived two strokes, transitioned, and have a lot of friends who think I’m tolerable.

I’m really proud of my job as a manager. Dropped out of uni because I only learned what seemed interesting to me (mostly tech stuff from CS) and now I’m leading a team of devs. Cherry on top is that they like me, too. OTOH I’m proud of my wife and children and lots of other things, like having mastered 2 foreign languages, playing piano, recorder and guitar.

Most proud that we bought a house though.

I paid off my college loans in full in 2019.

I deleted my reddit account.

I'm the first person in my family to get a University degree.

I've been sober for four years now.

Being the first female on my mom's side to get a phd; being the first female to not be a teenage mother out of all my female relatives on my mom's side; being the first to practice non violent upbringing in both our families (me and my SO).

Getting a full ride scholarship for all of my academic life: Bachelor's, Master's and PHD.

Getting a green thumb after thirty and having my flowers, shrubs, ferns, fruit trees and succulents thrive.

Getting on a horse after 30+ years of not doing it after a mare threw me off.

Quitting smoking cold turkey.

Working on my self trough therapeutic work to be my most authentic self.

Exercising regularly for some years now when I came from a family that did not emphasize the importance of body movement.

I'll be married for 5 years next month. We haven't killed each other (yet)!

That's good news!

Graduating from college, and with a 4.0. I fucking HATE school, and i put that shit off until my 30s. None of it was easy and I studied my ass off to get that 4.0. I truly never thought I would ever graduate, I started and stopped so many times.

Putting up with people and not murdering them.

About 10 years ago I qualified to enter a state pinball tournament.

Of 16 qualifying entrants(or who could be bothered to enter), I placed 6th.

So I see it as, I was the 6th best pinball player in a state of 3million people, for a year. :-)

My brain is not wired to be proud of things (chase the process!).

But i think achievements that I would put on my resume of life:

• Smoked for 15 years, quit, now 10+ years, nifty to think of. (i like number go up)
• Still alive even though i never thought that would happen a lot of times in my life, keep on keeping on
• I have released a bunch of cool music with other people and it has been a 'getting out of hand' hobby also for the past 15+ years
• Up until now haven't screwed up the next generation bonus-mini-me, today was their first day in high school, so pretty proud of them (not my achievement though, i just supported along the way).

Many things. Stopped smoking, started eating healthier, cooking, doing sports, going to therapy, stopped hating myself, learning to handle my income appropriately so I don’t live credit to credit anymore, getting a dog (now my second) be nice to people and get nice back. All spread out over the last ten years since I had a breakdown when I turned 30.

First person on my dad's side of the family to get a master's degree. I loved school, but I'm also very happy to be done with it haha.

Edit: maybe the first to get a bachelor's as well, but I'm not 100% sure about that. In any case, I'm proud to have gone through all that. Learned a lot.

Graduated high school with a 5.0 to go to college to major in sysadmin

Meditate without moving for 2 hours took a lot of effort to work up to. Couldn’t do 5 minutes when I started.

I know I shouldn't have even started, but I did, quitting smoking and drinking. It was really, really hard.

Quitting the for-profit sector for political and moral reasons. Not easy and it's still a struggle, but I keep going.

There's things that I like about myself that I cannot put into words; it's more a feeling.

Being elected to the Hall of Fame for a sport I play.

I've been going through a depression / burnout for a year, following the death of my best friend (and business partner).

The video game Starfield really contributed in keeping myself sane for most of the year. And with time, I started creating my own Starfield comic using the photomode and an app called Figma.

I never thought I had this creative mind, but apparently I'm not bad at all with screenplays and storytelling.

My comic is called The Radiant Huntress, and there are 25 episodes so far. Here are a few covers or panels.

If you want to read the whole thing, you can visit my Facebook page, or on my DeviantArt profile.

All of them. Even the ones I would do differently does not mean I am not proud of the effort and character it took to achieve. There are a few times in particular though. All revolve around standing up and doing the right thing, even when it was small. Those after school specials are corney but it does take a lot to go against the crowd and go with what seems right.