What Does it Mean to Be Humble?

Growing up as a Tūhoe, one of the most important values that was instilled in me was that no matter how well I did, I was always to remain humble. I thought I knew what that meant as a kid, but as I grew older, I came to realise that my understanding of the word (or the way I learnt from my environment) was detrimental to how I could accept and give love.

The obvious parts of being humble were not to be arrogant and to not to blow your own trumpet, but the other parts of my understanding of humility were to dumb down my shine in order to not make others around me feel uncomfortable or inadequate. I felt uncomfortable accepting praise and kind words from others (although I loved the feeling of their praise) because it felt like I was blowing my own trumpet. If someone asked if I was good at drawing, I would say I’m just okay or I’d say that other fala is better than me (even if they weren’t, I just had to deflect it).

I’ve come to understand that being humble is trying to be objective about yourself (if you can even be objective about yourself), and accepting when people say nice things about you if they are true, and saying you are good if you are, putting your best foot forward, especially in professional settings, and seeing yourself as you truly know you are, good and bad.

I think being humble is admirable if you’re doing it in a non-destructive way that is honest. Also, I try not to let my own insecurities view others as arrogant when they’re just confident. Just because someone is loud, it doesn’t mean they’re being arrogant, and just because someone is quiet, it doesn’t mean they’re being humble.