Throughout my relatively short 19 years of life I have often had one overbearing emotion. Shame or embarrassment of things I have worked on whether it be my YouTube videos or my writing or my positive test results. I have often wondered why I feel this and I have come to the conclusion that this feeling often comes from the fact that this shame comes from the Australian culture of tall poppy syndrome in which we tear or put down people that do well or achieve great results. As an Australian this culture is engrained into the very fabric of my existence and as such when great results are achieved it is second nature to want to hide or suppress these achievements so that I don’t feel torn down or degraded. I guess you could say that the feeling of a person in this situation is overriding fear.
Due to my love of video creation I have recently begun to watch a YouTube creator by the name of Casey Neistat and through watching his videos and Vlogs I have begun to realise that my hard work is something that I own and no matter what others say it is ultimately the risks that I have taken and the effort I have put in that gives me the results that I can be proud of. Personally I have high functioning autism and throughout my life I have had to work extremely hard to have a level of normality and to remain focused. Many assume that autism makes a person dumb, this is not the case, in fact most people with autism are extremely smart but it is their social perceptions and skills that are lacking. This leads to one of the biggest achievements in my life, the ability to maintain and have relationships with people and to be able to sense the other persons emotions and feelings.
Now that I am in tertiary education and am transitioning to life as an adult it is important for me to own my achievements and to be proud of them no matter what other people feel and believe about such achievements. The greatest achievement in life is to be proud of each and every achievement one makes.
Andrew Pratt Online Ministries 