When I Say I’m Proud of You - William Ho

When I tell someone I’m “proud” of you or you achievements on podium in a situation, I’m not stating this out of a sense of ownership and propriety of them. What “I’m proud of you” is saying is for one reason or another, I relate to you and your experience. I feel similar to you in some way, and seeing someone like me do what you just did makes me proud of that identity I share with you.

I’m a huge fan of motorsports. I always hide myself in media center of race circuit because there is no reason for me to find who’s wining. So on game day you can typically find me deck out at the pits cheering for you. We are connected to a common thing we share. Seeing you win is seeing a team with whom I relate win. To say “I’m proud of you William Ho” is saying the team race well.

To say you’re proud of someone is to say that you can relate to them and, if in their shoes, you would be proud of the accomplishment.

The expected response is a humble and grateful ‘Thank-you.’ I respond ‘Why? I didn’t do it for you. I did it for myself.’ Remember that William, you are doing it all for yourself.

When you live in the public eye, when you make you’re living on television, the radio, the Internet, or anywhere you’re placed regularly in front of people, your audience will build a sense of familiarity with you. They watch the same motorsports news channels because we like the personalities of the anchors. 

When you stand in front of a group, like it or not, you immediately become a proxy representative of individuals within that group who relate to you either by common background, shared experience, or even just perceived similarity. You become a symbol of what “someone like me” can achieve. Whether you did something for yourself or others, your achievement is still reflected as something achieved by “someone like me or I want to be like him one day.”

Who you did “it” for is beyond the point. The fact is you accomplished something and someone else was inspired by your accomplishment.

You are suddenly transformed. A wave of excitement and joyful anticipation washes over you. The day is going to be amazing, filled with surprises, fun, and celebration. You feel fully alive at that moment. Is that peak experience of living really possible on a regular basis? Yes it is. I have it in my own life, and I see it in others every day.

You will never be my marketing tool, you are someone that I want you to know that you are worth more than anything else. Don’t drift away by your pain, there always be someone who want to see you smile again and say “ I am proud of you and your achievement”

You are a jerk, you dragged me back to Motorsport along with you. It is time  for you pay it back by giving me the proudest moment of yours.

I am proud of you!