I love social media and the internet. I couldn’t live without Facebook, Instagram, and my favorite blogs and websites. The internet is humanity laid bare and I find this stimulating and disturbing in equal measure.

I have a lot of friends who are doing amazing things and changing the world, and the internet provides information about their accomplishments on a daily basis. I get to celebrate someone’s success every day. I hate to admit this, but one of the emotions that I feel when I read about the victories of others and the praise that comes with doing something great is a little bit of envy.

Everyone has a need for recognition, especially overachievers who are often working hard to further passions or promote causes, and I certainly get my fair share of praise. Often, though, I walk around with the sense that I have no expertise, and that, somehow, I’m letting all of my potential go to waste. I compare what I know I could do with what other people are doing, and I don’t measure up.

I told a friend about this feeling, and, not surprisingly, she said that she often feels that way, and some of the time she feels envious of me, just as I feel envious of her. It’s difficult for many of us to believe we are doing enough or creating enough or making enough of an impact. It’s not a feeling that is comfortable to admit, but talking about it gave me both a boost and a reality check. What is it that I need to be doing that I’m not? Is there an untapped skill or passion that I’m ignoring? And why do I undervalue my own achievements? Most important, how do I change my perception and support my friends who often feel the same way?

We are all doing something praise worthy just by being here, being ourselves, and being both interesting and interested, and it’s time we all own that and feel good about it.

Tanzi Merritt has made a career out of words. She spent several years working as an academic reference librarian and a community college library director, teaching students how to locate and evaluate information as well as to choose reading materials purely for pleasure. A career shift landed her in the position of sales and marketing coordinator for a technology consulting company, where she translates things written by software engineers into words that the non-developers of the world can understand. In her free time, she sits on a number of nonprofit boards, reads, knits, crafts, listens to (and sometimes makes) music, obsessively watches documentaries, buys art, and frequents lots of local restaurants and craft breweries. Pinterest: pinterest.com/tanzimerritt  Goodreads: goodreads.com/tanzimerritt  Instagram: tanzimerritt  LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/tanzidmerritt  Twitter: @tanzidawn