Do you consider yourself to be a modest individual?

Yes, when I’m not considering how amazing I am.

I consider myself to be healthy, which includes modesty as well as celebrating my strengths and talents. I wouldn’t say I toot my own horn, but I AM proud of who I am and my accomplishments and growth in life. We should never not shine as brightly as we can in order to appease others. Healthy self esteem is not grandiosity, if you don’t like yourself you can’t expect anyone else to either. ;-)

I’m the most modest person in the world.

I have learned to toot my horn when necessary, like at work. I have also learned that it is a bad idea to follow my modest instincts, because I go too far, to the point of denigrating myself. I will believe my ideas about how worthless I am, and that leads to suicide.

So my compromise is that, except for professional advancement situations where I must promote myself, I won’t say anything. If other people say nice things, I won’t tell them they are wrong.

But it is very hard for me to say something nice about myself—even something I actually think is quite possibly maybe true like because someone else said it. I’m not saying it for myself. Someone else said it, so I suppose that means it could be true, although it is doubtful. They were probably just trying to be nice but didn’t really mean it.

Except now I think that most people won’t bother to say something nice unless they mean it. Why bother, really? It’s an effort to be nice, so they probably do mean it. So I won’t insult them by denying it.

I’m more modest than horn-tooter.

I don’t go around tooting my own horn. Sometimes life circumstances show me that other people appreciate my intelligence and helpfulness, but I don’t advertise myself. I recently got a job that I did not ask for, nor did I interview for it, and that was flattering.

I don’t toot my own horn but I have come to enjoy it when it is tooted by others.

Oh my! Oh my! @janbb enjoys it when her horn is tooted by others. Oh. I’m getting all flustered.

I don’t often toot my own horn. Not because I’m modest. More so, it’s because I’m very self-critical.

It’s not that I don’t think I’m awesome. It’s that I don’t think a horn is worth tooting until you achieve a certain level of awesome. :P

rim shot

There should be a Herman Melville award with a little penis on it for awards won by people when they’re being dicks for answers like mine.

I try not to be boastful.

Ta-da!

[hands Adirondackwannabe a little penis trophy]

On a somewhat related note, I once found a small rock that looked exactly like a small penis. Gave it to my friend as a joke because he was being a dick. Ha.

I am willing to let people know of my educational and career attainments because it is part of a description of who I am but I don’t brag about my skills and abilities. When people seek help with anything where I feel particularly competent, Ill lend a hand and let my effectiveness speak for itself.

@Nimis Graciously accepts little penis trophy and proudly raises over head. Realizes belatedly this may be construed as me having a small penis and runs from room.

I don’t boast about my achievements and actually feel a bit embarrassed if I am put in a situation where they are brought up publicly.

On the flip side, I have learned not to hide my achievements at work. I make sure my superiors know what I am doing and when things are going very well. We have a system where we do have to actually say “I did this and this and this and achieved this”. So that helps.

If you hide your light under a bushel, don’t be surprised if people overlook it. Don’t brag but don’t be falsely modest either. Neither serve a good purpose.

I am totally modest! I kick ass at it!

I suspect I am a horn-tooter, much to my dismay. It’s unbecoming, and something I try to work on overcoming. I make no promises about not tooting my daughters’ horns, though!