What have you done today to make you feel proud? This question encompasses so much more than simply being a lyric from a 90’s pop song.

Our life is made up of situations, locations, events and relationships. We have choices to make every year, every week, every day. Looking back on how far you’ve come, what do you feel proud of? It could be you've achieved great success in a competition or mastered a new skill. It might be that you have found something challenging but refused to give up and worked hard to reach a goal. It could be that you overcame difficult circumstances in the form of an illness or bereavement and have come out the other side. It might be that you have helped and served others and made their lives better.

In an existence where our choices shape our lives and we have the freedom to choose, choose to live your best life. This does not have very much to do with the superficial or material in my view. Living your best life and feeling pride in who you are as an individual, is more deeply connected to how you behave and how your behaviour impacts on others. Are you kind? Are you open minded? Do you champion others? What will your legacy look like many years from now? Will you feel proud of the life you have lived and might others feel proud to have known you or what you stood for?

56 years ago, the Sexual Offences Act 1967 came into effect. The Act, which decriminalised homosexual sex acts between consenting men over the age of 21, opened the door to a slew of legal and social changes which would transform the way British society viewed same-sex relationships over the next 50 years. For those individuals who made this happen, who fought for their rights and championed their cause, what a sustaining sense of pride this must have brought to their lives.

Our time is short but acts such as this last far longer than a human lifetime. Knowing your actions are doing good, helping others and enabling individuals to live openly as themselves, being who they want to be. Could anything give you more pride?