Things I'm Proud Of

The ability to end a sentence without a preposition not included.

Sometimes, (ok, most of the time) I can be very, very hard on myself. I'm not a good enough wife, housekeeper, employee, etc. etc. I should be doing more, earning more, look more put together, be thinner, cook better...

Periodically I find it helpful to remind myself of the things I do well, despite the fact that this is much harder than naming the things I don't do so well.

Here goes:

• Cook. For a long time I took for granted that cooking came naturally to everyone. My parents both cook, but when they got divorced they both stopped for a few years, and if I wanted anything other than take-out it was up to me to make it. Baking has always come naturally, and the more I cook, the more I enjoy it. So, I'm proud that I can cook well. 
• Read. Reading is also something I've taken for granted--growing up I was always allowed to go to the library as much as I wanted. Both of my best friends, one from high school and one from college, are readers and we've always traded books. Now that my dad's semi-retired he reads a lot, and we trade too. But working with students with disabilities, I've met a lot of people who struggle to read, or just plain hate it. I'm proud that my reading comprehension is high and my reading speed fairly fast.
• Empathize. Prior to my parent's divorce when I was 13, I was very self-absorbed and spoiled. That had to change pretty fast, so between that, coping with an eating disorder over the next couple of years, and working with adults with disabilities beginning in my freshman year of college, I find that I'm pretty good at empathizing, even with situations I haven't experienced. I got in a discussion about abortion with a pro-choice classmate and, just as she was gearing up to get irritated and angry, I explained that, even though I disagree with abortion, I can absolutely understand how a woman, afraid and more than likely alone, might find herself in a situation where abortion looks like the best option. My classmate stopped, blinked, and said "oh..you're the first person I've met who said that". We then had a frank, reasonable, non-angry discussion. This also comes in very handy being a social worker.
• Write. I'm no Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, but I find that I can write reasonably well, a talent that's come in handy doing papers, research documents, grants, graduate applications, and more. 
• Stick to goals I set. In middle school, I determined to make my sloppy, nearly illegible handwriting that featured huge circles over the i's better. And I did.  Just this past New Year's, I set a goal to go back to exercising 4 times a week--so far, 5 weeks later, I haven't broken it. It's comforting to know that if I set a reasonable goal, I'm capable of achieving it.
• Being left-handed. This is obviously nothing I had control over, but I'm proud of it nonetheless. It's nice to be a little different, and to feel like I've overcome my teacher's insistence that they didn't know how to teach me--to hold a pen, to write, to sew--because of my handedness. I still get "You're left-handed?!?" frequently enough to remind me that it's still not the norm. 

That's enough for now...I can't really think of any more, plus I don't want to sound terribly conceited. What are you proud of?