I invited two highly regarded bloggers to my house for a catch up a few weeks ago and I felt like I was catching up with good friends. I can actually call them good friends because we catch up each week via our Facebook page to discuss all things blogging and our lives in between.
Our group was initiated after hearing Nikki speak at Problogger Conference about forming a support group as a blogger. I knew which two bloggers I wanted to be in my support group and I hoped that they would want me to be a part of theirs. Thankfully they did and our little group of three was created. If you don’t have a support network as a blogger, you really should find two other bloggers that you can keep in touch with and offer each other support. I’ve learned so much from my blogging friends and I’m thankful for our little group.
Anyway, what blew me away from catching up with them the other night was our admiration for each other. I look at these two bloggers and see them creating fantastic blogs online. They write great posts and as a result have a good following on Facebook and online. Much higher than I have and I look at them as bloggers to aspire to.
They in turn told me how they admired ME, talking up The Plumbette as if I was a high profile blogger. I don’t see myself as this. I never have and I pray that I never will.
I always want to stay humble in this game no matter how successful I become. Which got me thinking how does one stay humble? How can you avoid allowing success get to your head?
It’s important to realize what humble actually means. It doesn’t mean brushing off success. It means embracing it, and recognizing how the success was achieved without allowing it to propel your view on yourself as higher than everyone else.
The first strategy of remaining humble is remembering where I started. Thinking back 2.5 years ago, I am amazed at what I’ve learned and how far I’ve come as a blogger. It’s been a fabulous journey and I know that if I keep investing time into my blog, I can see some of my professional dreams coming true. As a plumber I remained humble because I wasn’t the best at Tafe. I knew my weaknesses and they were easily recognizable. Having colleagues that could install fixtures quicker than me forced me to stay humble. There is no pride gained for coming last.
The other way I try to remain humble is by looking at others the same as myself. I don’t put anyone on a pedestal and I don’t diss someone as below me. Looking at everyone as equal means I don’t entertain thoughts that I’m better than someone else.
Watching reality tv shows with contestants that are full of pride and no humility is another way of remaining humble. I don’t want to carry on and produce negative feelings in others because I think too highly of myself. I sometimes wonder if those contestants re-watch their air time with shame?
The final strategy I use is prayer. The Bible is pretty clear about the need to remain humble. It’s even clearer about what the benefits are when you practice being humble. Being humble towards God means I acknowledge that my life is in His hands and that He is God. This means I’m more intuitive to His leading. If I was full of myself, I would have no need to listen to God and would miss incredible opportunities to serve or allow God to use me for His purposes.
I know some of you have no belief in God and my last paragraph reads like gobbly goo but I often wonder what messages we’re missing hearing from God because we’ve been so focused on the demands of our immediate life. The great thing about God is that He is patient and He will keep repeating himself until we obey or tune our ears and heart towards Him.
How do you stay humble? Can you relate to any of my strategies?
Ephesians 4: 2 “Be completely humble and gentle, be patient, bearing with one another in love.”
