Everyone has done something once in their life they're proud of. This could range from graduating high school or college, getting a fantastic internship, or moving to their dream city and getting a killer job. No matter what it is, all accomplishments should be celebrated. It does not matter how big or small they are, people should celebrate their hard work.
Which, is exactly what these Redditors did, they shared their proudest accomplishments on Reddit. Content has been edited for clarity.
Brother Of The Year
“I got to help my little brother become the man he is now.
I spent my whole life, as far as I could remember, working and studying to make ends for my family. I always looked out for my little brother and I’ve been the one sending him to school. Through high school and college, I’d work night shifts and the sorts to make ends and help my family. Man, that was tough.
I did finally graduate and got a stable job. I am just proud my little brother is on his last semester of college, and I helped him have the opportunities I couldn’t have and helped make him someone who can be better than who I am.
That’s why if I died right now, I’d be okay knowing that despite being an older brother, I raised a smart, kind young man who has his whole life ahead of him.”
Family Is The Greatest Blessing
“My biggest accomplishment is getting married and having my son. My wife and son are the pride of my life and I’m so proud of them both. She’s a great mom, he is a great 1 year old. I feel so lucky to have had the chance to meet her and have such a great son. I’m confident he is going to grow up and be a great person. I’m new to the whole children thing and he’s going through some small health things which have been SUPER stressful since he’s so vulnerable and can’t do anything about it. Never realized I could love two people as much and make such a great family as I have.”
A Round Of Applause For This Guy
“When I was in high school I threw a party and a friend put a hole in the wall right by the entrance. My parents would be back in a little over 24hrs. The day following the party I went to Home Depot and explained to the guy working there my situation.
To which he basically told me, ‘Yeah dude, you don’t have enough time to fix a hole in the wall.’
After getting all the supplies, I figured I was good to go out with some friends for a while, come home and quickly fix the wall.
I come home from being out around 10pm, giving me about 12 hours before my parents would come home. I fill up the hole with the mesh and sheetrock. Now it’s all filled up and smooth, still wet and obviously a different color than the wall itself. I remembered that my mom painted the wall herself a few years back and there are still paint cans left over in the basement.
After grabbing a can that matched the color of the wall I got ready to cover the spot. The second I painted onto the wall I immediately noticed the paint color was too dark. It’s the same color but a much darker shade so my mom must’ve thought it was too dark and added white to lighten the color. So I go back to the basement for white paint. I spend the next few hours trying to find the right shade that my mom used so my wall would match in color with the surrounding walls. After an eternity I finally get the right color! It’s 3-4am at this point and I paint the whole wall.
Once I’m done the wall looks great, you can’t even tell there was ever a hole. My next obvious issue is the smell of paint. One step into the house and my parents would immediately know something isn’t right, it reeks of paint. That’s when I remembered seeing a can of blue paint in the basement. I grab the blue paint and a poster board used from a school project and make a sign saying WELCOME HOME. I then hang the sign in the same room as the wet wall, on an opposite wall to draw attention there and off the painted wall. I purposely leave the can of blue paint there on the floor with the lid off to help sell the reason for the strong smell of paint.
Then I went to bed, exhausted and with only a few hours to spare. I woke up when they arrived to greet them/ see if I was going to get busted or not. My plan worked like a charm! I got away with it. They loved the welcome home sign. I know what you must be wondering, But what about the wet paint!? There’s no way it dried in time! You’re right, it was 100% still wet when they arrived, I just prayed nobody would touch the wall!
That was over 10yrs ago and I’m still just as proud today of that accomplishment as I was back then.”
She Came Back Even Stronger
“I recently graduated college, while also having one of the hardest years of my life. Within the last year, I had to have a complete knee reconstruction surgery, see my father slowly deteriorate and die from his cancer, and then fight family all year over his estate.
Many people also thought I may not make it this far, as I missed years of school as a kid/teen due to Lyme Disease and many other health problems.
I’m also the first woman out of all of my sisters and first cousins to graduate college.”
That’s A Lot Of Responsibility
“I play a LOT of video games. My friends aren’t really into online role-playing games that much. So I usually play those solo. Most those games revolve around Alliance/Guilds for maximum progression, so it’s imperative you join one. Across my 20+ Years of gaming, I have never not been put into a leadership/captain position in any of the Alliances/Guilds I have joined. Just based on my commitments, knowledge of said game, using said knowledge to help others, motivational capability, and decision making (in most cases having to cut/kick members, or dealing with toxicity). These random strangers who originally formed these Alliances see leadership capabilities in me, and in many cases have passed on the Leader role to me.
Now I’m not just talking about random Alliances/Guilds, they’re not casual in anyway, I’m talking Top 100, Top 50, and in some games Top 3 Alliances. Hardcore Alliances.
I never would have thought complete strangers on the internet would see me this way.”
“I Have No Idea How It Happened”
“In order to run for homecoming King at my alma mater, you need to represent a student organization in homecoming activities. I was peer pressured by some friends in a student affairs/tour guide club I was in to just do it to show my pride for the club. We had a quite a few members but not many super active ones.
Then there’s the Statesman and the Women’s Concert, two massive organizations. Each of those organizations always have candidates and they always win. They have mandatory participation in homecoming events and spend hundreds of dollars on the homecoming campaigns.
I had about 5 people helping me, and $60 to get a week of campaigning in. I was creative in my campaign, handing out cheap things that were silly (like dry cereal in the morning) or nearly free (printed out dad jokes or memes). During the week I spent every waking minute out in the campus mall campaigning.
At one of the events, tug of war, I tore my meniscus. It hurt so bad. I was watching these other groups doing flash mobs and giving out full (FULL) size candy bars and pizza, and I can’t even stand. I barely had any help as well, it was usually only me standing outside by myself when I was campaigning.
But, after the thousands of people that voted for their homecoming royalty I was the king. I have no idea how it happened, but it’s one time that I put my mind to something and did all the work myself, and I actually won.”
“A Skill They Don’t Teach At Harvard”
“I taught myself how to blacksmith. I have built my own forge and sunk a log for my anvil. Busted out some tongs as my first creation. I’ve also built my own bed frame, bookshelf, and wall clock, and I taught myself how to weld. I’ve replaced almost the entire front end suspension in my first car, including the constant-velocity joint, two water pumps, an alternator, this little thing called a manifold absolute pressure sensor, spark plugs, air filters, oil changes. I’ve also taught myself basic electronics and circuit theory, and I’ve been accumulating knowledge of integrated circuits. I’ve also demolished and refinished an entire room by myself, from latte and plaster to drywall. Also I made it through my entire teenage years with only $16,000 of debt.
Granted, this is all stuff I did instead of going to college but being able to disassemble your car and reassemble it in your living room is a skill they don’t teach at Harvard.”
“So Scared I Would Drop My Phone”
“I used to always lock the door and put the keys through my brothers door after leaving the house. One day I was housesitting his house, and was really high. So, I decided to take a walk. I put the keys through his letter box, got a few steps away and realised what I had done.
I immediately called him, and he said there is no spare and I would have to contact his leasing agent to get them to unlock it. The only issue was his house STUNK of weed (Something he doesn’t mind, because he smokes in there too) and I don’t think his landlord would be happy about that.
I got into my car and started looking for something that could help, I fashioned a hook out of an old phone charger cable and a keyring hook.
I snapped the bit that opens when you press the lever, and I tied the cable around keyring part and used that to fish his keys through the letterbox. I had to put my phone through his letterbox while having my camera app open so I could see the keys while trying to hook them. I was so scared I would drop my phone and be in even more trouble.
I was so hyped when I hooked the keys.”
“Seeing It Happen In Real Life Was Crushing”
“I will do my very best to treat every child equally, and give every child the same level of respect and attention, no matter how shy or uninterested they are (unless they’re particularly bratty or misbehaving, in those scenarios giving children less attention is better). I had never really realised this about myself until my recent experience, but I am now proud of the fact that I do this and will continue to try and include children equally and respectfully whenever appropriate. My recent experience was with four older adults, we were (fairly casually) teaching a brother and sister about wildlife. The brother was outgoing, confident and answered questions, while the sister was much shyer and struggled to answer questions. I was absolutely flabbergasted when the other adults paid virtually no attention to the girl, but paid more than enough attention to the boy. It was fairly obvious, at least to me, the girl was interested, but because her personality was so different from her brother’s, she struggled to participate. To try and balance things out, I did my best to pay a little more attention to the girl than to the boy. Certainly, I did better than ignoring her completely. I like to think she was grateful I made an effort to include her and talk to her. Although with shy people like her, I find it’s often difficult to tell when they have positive/grateful reactions.
I’m pretty sure the adults I was with didn’t mean to be that rude towards her, but it certainly came across that way to me. The occasion certainly riled me and made me rethink a lot of comments I’ve read online recently about women not being taken seriously as children. Mainly, about how they would be watching boys get all the attention and praise while they were left in the background. I myself was lucky enough not to have that experience, but seeing it happen in real life, to this girl, was crushing. So, yes, there are times when girls do not get as much positive attention as boys. It may not happen all the time, as it very much depends on personalities, but I think it’s something that people working with children should be very conscious of, to make sure they don’t cause situations like that themselves. I just hope she can try and build up some more confidence and have her voice heard. Children deserve attention, unless, again, they’re misbehaving.”
Don’t Judge A Book By It’s Cover
“I’ve been writing a novel for the past 3 years, spending a good chunk of my time polishing it, researching, getting the tone just right. It has been a challenge because I’ve been writing it in English; English isn’t my first language and I’m a construction worker.”
“Something I’ll Never Forget”
“I made a meme Facebook page in my college first year. It was about stuff that was happening in the college that was basically public knowledge. The other guy who made it and I remained anonymous, but people close to us knew who were behind the page. It started off with just making memes and quirky videos and such. However, it turned into something much more when we entered our second year. A fresh batch of students found out about our channel. All of them unaware of who runs it. But the page became a sensation within the college. It got 2,000+ followers on Facebook within 2 years. All of this happening at a college that has at its strength 4,000 students.
Cometh the third year, and dorm rules were changed. We were no longer allowed to pick our roommates. Everyone seemed to be upset at that, but no one could say anything. Until we did. We single handedly launched a campaign that involved posting flyers on dorm boards with QR codes to our petition. When that didn’t work we tried tagging the hostel authority directly and asking them to do something about it, as it was an unpleasant decision for everyone involved from students to hostel staff. But the administration didn’t listen. In the end, we resorted to memes and protests.
Not long before, everyone on Facebook and Twitter were united. The college’s Twitter handle was flooded with direct messages. People even sent memes directly to the official handle. We were soon contacted by the student body who handled some of it. They said they had to deal with lot of issues from both sides, and are shutting down the hostel registration on college portal until officials respond. And when the fees payments and registrations were delayed, they had to respond. They put out an official notice that mostly reverted all the newly stated rules, and most importantly, we were allowed to choose our roommates, but not the dorm or floor. That was still a pretty good deal. And it made everyone happy. The positive feedback we got was overwhelming for couple of guys flunking classes and making memes for fun. I haven’t done much in the college in terms of academic achievements, but this is something I’ll never forget.”
Rest And Relaxation Does Wonders
“I’ve been going to the gym for roughly 3 months, and favor leg day. My goal is to have pretty thick and strong legs. eventually I want to get into powerlifting but I am focused on body building and weight loss. I’ve recently taken a break from the gym and even my ‘clean’ diet. This has made me a little nervous, because I was becoming obsessive, and my body was practically begging for a deload.
Instead of losing muscle mass/strength within just a week, my quads are actually bigger and possibly my biceps as well (too fat to tell). I guess I just needed to give my body some time to rest and heal.”