a bit of bragging

As a Northerner I've been brought up with Jantelagen. For you who don't speak Swedish it's "the Northerner's law", which translates to something like this:

You’re a nobody.
You’re not as good as us.
You’re not as smart as us.
You’re not to believe that you are better than us.
You’re not to believe that you know more than us.
You’re not to believe that you are superiour to us..
You’re not to believe that you are worth anything.
You’re not to laugh at us.
You’re not cared for by anyone.
You’re not capable of teaching us anything.
(very quickly and freely translated from "En flykting korsar sitt spår")


To sum all of the above up - it is bad to brag. It is bad to tell people of your knowledge. This explains my father's reaction to my staff training days (see my previous blog). I bragged. And he just couldn't stand it so he was quick to tell me I had nothing to be proud of.


But you know - I'm sick of not being able to tell the world of good days! Days that turn out nice because of me and my actions. What's so wrong about feeling proud of somthing you feel you've achieved?

So here's my bragging of today:

I facilitated a staff conference from hell today. There were arguments and accusations and petty bickering. But I stood my ground and sorted it all. And by cry am I proud of it! I rocked!