Pride Is The Most Useless Thing To Have
There is a reason why pride is one of the seven deadly sins.
Pride is generally described with a negative connotation. The Cambridge Dictionary offers multiple definitions for “pride.” A positive one is:
“Your feelings of your own worth and respect for yourself.”
Even in that positive definition, you can see the entitlement attached to the word pride. Another definition of pride from The Cambridge Dictionary is:
“Pride is also the belief that you are better or more important than other people.”
Pride is a two-sided weapon. If you use pride without caution, these things will happen to your life.
1. Pride hinders you from taking criticism.
Pride encapsulates you in a fragile shell. Pride shields your self-esteem from being low, but, with a price.
The way this shell protects them is by taking only good feedback and ditching the constructive one. The more they get compliments, the thicker their shell is going to be and the more they are immune to criticism.
There are commonly two reactions a prideful person gives when being criticized. They either 1) Get super defensive and would argue to prove you are wrong or; 2) Turn arrogant and cover their ears completely. Receiving feedback means that they need to break their protective shell. However, in their head, they are better than everyone else and no one should dare to say otherwise.
Receiving feedback is a part of improvement. The more you are able to receive feedback, the better you can improve. But prideful person sees criticism as a bullet directed to attack their own character, rather than a suggestion to fix their action.
2. Pride turns you into an insecure person.
A prideful person tends to be insecure.
Pride causes you to compare yourself to others. This will make you fragile because you need approval from others to feel confident about yourself.
You cannot be satisfied unless you get acknowledgment from others. You need to feed your ego to boost your pride constantly.
Why should we need others’ approval to value ourselves?
3. Pride keeps you from making the right decision
Uh oh. The number of stupid decisions I have seen made to keep one’s pride is too much. I have witnessed how people ruin their social life by trying to keep their pride intact. One of the most recent events is one that my friend experienced.
My friend just blew his chance to graduate from university. Don’t get me wrong, my friend is a smart guy. He is very dedicated when it comes to research. But he hasn’t graduated even after spending 6 years in university. One of the biggest obstacles that hinder him from graduating is his pride.
You see, once you cross the 4 years period in university, you are very prone to dropping out. So, aside from having to do the research quickly, we need to play our cards right — such as picking the right professor or choosing an easy topic.
He did none of that.
His pride is a mountain tall. He chose a complex topic and unfortunately, a difficult professor too. He often got into a disagreement with his professor. Instead of catering to what the professor wants as everyone does, he likes to challenge his professor’s word. He even got into a heated argument and called his professor “distrustful” in front of another professor, throwing his chance to graduate on time.
My friend could’ve excelled in life more if not for his pride. He turns into an idiotic person the second his pride got involved(sorry man, I need to call you out on that one). A rebellious character is refreshing when you see it in the movie, but not so much when your own friend did it.
4. Pride ruins relationships
Pride often causes people to not communicate what they need. In their head, speaking their mind is equal to stepping on their pride. They feel entitled that people should understand what they need without them communicating what they truly feel.
It is very frustrating for people around them. Not communicating is wasting time, and no one likes to waste their time trying to communicate with another fully grown adult.
My prideful ex was one of them. In one of our arguments, when I finished talking about my opinion, he decided to type his argument on his phone. Speaking made him feel weaker than me since I am more eloquent than him.
I still remember the bewilderment I experienced when I saw it. He chose to act like a child instead of actually solving the problem.
But is pride really that bad?
Pride can be used for a good thing. I have done so myself.
I take compliments to boost my confidence. Every time I achieve something, it makes me more daring to take on more challenges and enables me to improve quicker. Compliments build my pride and pride holds my self-esteem intact when my critical self appears. Pride saves my self-worth and eventually, from depression.
But, constructive feedback keeps me in check and keeps my feet on the ground. My end goal is not to be the best compared to everyone, but to be the best version of myself.
Also, learn how to let go of your pride. Use your pride to inflate your self-esteem, but don’t tie them with your identity. It is okay to lose. You need to make mistake early so you can achieve great things quicker.
P.S. Remember, you don’t have to prove to others that you are worthy.
