Humblebrag

I am as guilty as the next wannabe Overachieving Mom when it comes to the humblebrag Christmas letter. I can’t help it. It’s in my genes.

Henry Alford, a commentator for The New York Times, has observed that “social media status updates are basically selfies, humblebrags, and rants.” “Most humblebrags,” Alford observes, “are attempts to convey one of three messages: ‘I have too much work;’ ‘I am an idiot/impostor;’ or ‘I have firsthand knowledge of the gritty gilt to be found inside the gilded cage.’” The latter seems by far the most common.

I phrase my brag in humble or self-deprecating terms because social norms demand that such self-deprecating remarks be countered by denials by my guests and compliments on the perfection of the risotto. My humblebrag is thus met with the positive affirmation I was seeking but could not successfully achieve through outright bragging.

You're the king/queen of the humblebrag on your best days, but you really need to remember your strengths and talents on your worst days to shake off your impostor syndrome and remember the badass you are.

Ditch the humblebrag. Live with sincerity beneath the shadow of God.

After all, she writes, she was surrounded by “people who humblebragged about how little sleep they’d gotten the night before and used the phrases ‘lean and scrappy’ to describe not only our company culture, but themselves.”

The Four Seasons even humblebragged about its failure to accommodate Buffett’s special request on its Facebook page.

Fan quickly humblebragged through her journey from reluctant computer science major to discovering a love of animation, which she studied at night in community college, despite the protestations of her Chinese “tiger parents” that she would “be poor and destitute if I followed my dreams.”

John the Baptist lived in the shadow of Tiberius. Many people thought John was the Messiah. After all, he commanded great crowds and had a dynamic personality. But John didn’t humblebrag. His dreams were all cradled in the heart of Jesus. No fakery or false pretensions existed on John’s stage.