Not sure if that's just a me-thing, a not-being American-thing or something else that lets me shy away from praising my own character-traits.

I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with not being an American. I think it has to do with societies which tend to tell us from a very early age that pride is a bad thing, and that we shouldn't praise ourselves.

But no, you didn't fail. There's no wrong way to do these challenges. <3