08/12/2026
Asking for acknowledgement is hard. Really hard.
I just moved into the second quarter of the professional leadership development training I’m in, and one of our assignments was to create a daily wellness tracker.
This is already a practice I’ve had for a while. Each day, I track things like:
Journal.
Practice gratitude.
Meditate.
Stretch.
Go outside.
Eat nutritiously.
Drink enough water.
I’m good at those.
And when I brought that up, you know what I was told to add?
Ask for acknowledgement.
Ask for help.
And I added a few more myself:
Stop before my limit.
Acknowledge how I’m feeling.
Appreciate the beauty of my food.
“Be” with the water.
Allow my depth to be seen.
Decide what risk I’ll take today.
Ask myself, What does my tender heart want?
Appreciate a piece of art.
The one I’ve checked the least?
Ask for acknowledgement.
Asking for help is hard for me. But asking for acknowledgement is so much harder.
I think a lot of us have been taught not to ask for it. That wanting acknowledgement is selfish. Self-absorbed. Shameful. Needy. Wrong.
But we’re human.
And acknowledgement—being witnessed—is part of what it means to be here with one another.
So I’m practicing asking for it more. And I want to encourage you to do the same.
You can ask to be acknowledged for anything:
For something you said.
For something you chose not to say.
For letting yourself rest.
For pushing yourself outside your comfort zone.
For showing up.
For trying again.
For being here.
You don’t have to accomplish something extraordinary to be worthy of being witnessed.
So I’ll practice right here:
I’d like to be acknowledged for continuing to choose growth, even when growth asks me to do something that makes me deeply uncomfortable.
And now I’m curious:
What would you like to be acknowledged for today?
Pictured: the first time my self-published magazine showed up at my local PCC Community Markets store in Issaquah, Washington.
