It’s Daniel dropping into your inbox because it’s already Friday again – isn’t that wild? Anyway, I was thinking recently about a time in the ninth grade when my teacher Mr. Murphy had us all stand up and state a big dream or goal to the class. I stood up and said “I want to win an Oscar” – which is hilarious now because 2024 Daniel couldn’t give two s#!%s if he ever wins an Oscar – but I’ve got to give it to 1999 Daniel for dreaming big.

What 2016 Daniel would find out through lots of self-help books and coaching, is that the gold statue goal that 1999 Daniel was wanting was actually due to a potent cocktail of low self-esteem and middle child syndrome where he really just wanted to feel seen and have a positive influence on people :)

Where I used to be obsessed with movies, celebrities and awards shows, nowadays I’m so delightfully out of touch with pop culture that I Kant even Kname all the Kardashians.

That said, sometimes I get a whiff of what’s going on during awards season. This week I stumbled across a recent awards show moment that hit me harder than a slap from Will Smith. Let’s dive in…

award-winning inspiration

The other day the algorithm served me up a clip of actress Niecy Nash-Betts accepting an award at the Emmys. The speech went viral because Niecy gave a very emotional, passionate and empowering speech. Most notably – she thanked herself.

Without a single ounce of arrogance or ego, it was a magical expression of true self-love and the clear result of strong belief and epic determination.

Here’s a snippet of her speech:

“And you know who I want to thank? I want to thank me.
For believing in me and doing what they said I could not do.
And I want to say to myself, in front of all you beautiful people,
‘go on girl wit’ yo bad self!’ You did that!”

Isn’t that awesome? You may have seen this during the Emmys or online afterward, but the real gold nugget from Niecy was an incredible moment backstage while taking questions from the press.

When a reporter asked “why was it important for you to take that moment?”, Niecy channeled an almost tangible passion that ripped my heart open. Here’s my favourite part:

“I’m proud of myself. I’m proud that I did something that people said I could not do, because I believed in me, and sometimes people don’t believe in themselves… and I hope my speech was a delicious invitation for people to do just that.

Believe in yourself! And congratulate yourself. Sometimes you’ve got to encourage – what? – yourself . And that’s why it’s not called mama-esteem, them-esteem, us-esteem, – it’s called self– esteem, cause don’t nobody gotta believe you, but you.”

I mean… what a f!@#ing mic drop moment. You can click here to watch her whole bad-ass response.

To be honest, it made me a bit teary. I’ve never met Niecy Nash and don’t know anything about her, and I haven’t seen the performance that she won the award for, but damn, I am so very proud of her.

And I think it’s beautiful that we can be proud of people we don’t know because we see how expertly they’re showing up in life. How talented they are. How much they have to give this world.

But the emotion this brought up in me was because Niecy is absolutely right and I needed to hear that message. We can always recognize the beauty, work-ethic, talents and journey of other people, but how often do we give ourselves that same recognition?

acknowledge your badassery

Every day at the studio I meet at least one lovely new human who is stressed out to the max or dealing with anxiety that is crippling various aspects of their lives. They can’t sleep,  they don’t feel like themselves, and they’re exhausted trying to figure out how to feel better.

Firstly, I’m blown away how many people are able to be tired and kind at the same time. This is not a skill I currently possess.

But seriously, I’m starting to think a big part of this problem is that not enough of us are taking the time to acknowledge how incredibly f!@$ing hard it is to be a human today.

Further, regardless of our current state and stage in life, not enough of us are taking the time to appreciate just how f!#@ing amazing we are for getting here.

We are living in a world that places extremely high (and entirely imaginary) standards on us. And generally speaking, a skewed, high-bar view of success is what’s driving us. We think we need to make a million dollars a year or win a gold statue in order to feel validated in our existence so we can sleep at night.

But guess what? You matter. Your life matters. The energy you bring to this world matters.

So here’s the deal, friend:

We all need to give ourselves some f!@#ing credit.

We don’t need a gold statue, but let’s celebrate ourselves!
Because why? We are all doing our best!

We all have dreams and goals but let’s congratulate ourselves just for showing up!

I know how challenging it can be to continuously show up and shine every day, but if you woke up today, you’re supposed to be in this world sharing your special brand of magic.

And celebrate yourself along the way.

At this point in my life my goal isn’t to win a gold statue on TV, but if I can inspire even a single human in the way Niecy Nash did for me the other day, I think that would be all the award I’d need.

With that said, it’s time to announce the winner of a very special honour…

…the award for Best You goes to… YOU!

Congratulations! Now go on wit’ yo bad self!’ And if you need a reminder of how awesome you are, you know where to find us.