Today I Choose to be Privileged – How to be Privileged

I still remember standing in the grocery aisle at 22, counting coins to see if I could add a loaf of bread to my basket. That was my reality: Ramen in the pantry, Kraft Mac & Cheese in the cupboard, and a lot of quiet determination in my heart.

Fast forward, and my life looks very different. But I’ve never wanted to forget those years, because they’re the lens through which I understand what it means to be fortunate in ways both earned and given.

Privilege, Reframed

Being advantaged is a complicated concept. For some, it carries weight and discomfort. For others, it’s invisible: a backdrop they’ve never questioned.

For me, having advantages isn’t about guilt, and it’s not just about money. It’s about the benefits—some earned, some given—that have helped me move through life. It might be education, safety, connections, timing, or simply being in the right place at the right moment. Some of it came from hard work. Some of it came from circumstances I didn’t control.

And that’s why awareness matters.

The Ramen Years

When I’m talking with younger people just starting out, I remember my “making it work” days: the $5 budget for dinner, the gas tank that never saw full, the mental gymnastics of deciding which bill could wait another week.

Those memories keep me grounded. They remind me not to dismiss someone’s current struggle just because I’m in a different place now. And they give me a deep respect for the grit it takes to move forward when life feels like one long improvisation.

When we recognize our advantages, we don’t diminish our efforts. We simply acknowledge that success rarely happens in isolation. Someone taught us, someone gave us a chance, or circumstances aligned in our favor at a crucial moment.

From Guilt to Responsibility

I don’t carry guilt for what I have now—guilt keeps you stuck, looking backward. What I do carry is responsibility.

For me, being blessed with advantages means asking:

• How can I make this easier for someone else?
• What doors can I hold open that someone once held open for me?
• Where can I share knowledge, encouragement, or opportunity without expecting anything in return?

Because advantages, unshared, just become insulation. And insulation might keep you comfortable, but it also keeps you disconnected.

How to Practice Awareness

Recognizing your advantages shows up differently for everyone, but here are ways to keep yours in motion:

Notice what comes easily. The skills that feel natural to you might be exactly what someone else is struggling to learn. Your “obvious” knowledge could be someone’s breakthrough.

Remember your starting point. Like my grocery store coin-counting days, we all have moments that remind us how far we’ve come and how much help we received along the way.

Look for mentoring opportunities. Whether formal or informal, sharing your experience and guidance with people who are where you once were creates a ripple effect of positive change.

Make introductions. Your network is one of your greatest assets. Connecting people to opportunities, contacts, or resources they might not otherwise reach costs you nothing but creates enormous value.

Share resources generously. Information, recommendations, tools, or simply your time and attention can dramatically impact someone’s trajectory.

The Ripple Effect

When you embrace your advantages as tools for lifting others, something beautiful happens. You stop seeing success as a zero-sum game and start seeing it as an expanding circle.

The person you mentor today might mentor three others tomorrow. The door you hold open might inspire someone to prop open two more. The encouragement you offer might be exactly what someone needs to take their next brave step.

This isn’t about grand gestures or dramatic acts of philanthropy. It’s about small, consistent choices to use what you have in service of what’s possible for others.

A Quiet Call to Action

Your advantages aren’t always obvious, but they’re always powerful. Maybe yours is financial. Maybe it’s a network, a skill, the ability to speak up when others can’t, or simply the confidence that comes from having navigated certain challenges before.

Whatever it is, don’t wear it like a crown. Use it like a key.

Because when I think back to that 22-year-old counting coins in the grocery aisle, I remember hoping that someday I’d be in a position to make someone else’s path a little easier. Now that I am, that’s exactly what I choose to do.

Today, I choose to be advantaged not just for what it gives me, but for what it allows me to give others.