Celebrate your own successes not the “official ones”

When I graduated high school, a unique and highly celebrated time in Sweden, I wasn’t proud. The celebration goes back to the days when many did not pass and hence could not go on to university. So passing was a huge thing. My dad graduated the year after they changed it and refused to wear his hat, in defiance of the pointlessness of the ceremony. But I hated mine, I was happy to leave high school but my grades weren’t that good, due to a stint of partying in the first year of high school. I did not feel proud enough to truly celebrate the moment. I also would not…