Acknowledging the Negative Side of Pride
Pride, a trait often mistaken for arrogance and selfishness, is declared as the negative side of confidence. Pride often misses the appreciation it deserves.
It is true that excessive pride can function as a barrier, resulting in actual arrogance and difficulties in accepting constructive feedback. Some isolate themselves as a result of pride manifesting as a sense of superiority.
In this state, the toxic form of pride sometimes functions as a shield, a defense mechanism to hide insecurities and avoid vulnerability.
The danger lies in the fact that this form of pride has the ability to prevent growth, as it resists admitting mistakes as a means to move forward and improve.
Does that mean pride is “bad”? Should we avoid pride completely? No, this is not the article for that.
As we’ve said, pride is very negatively connoted, but everything that has a negative side shows a positive one just as well.
And pride, especially, can implement a lot of benefits into one’s life.
Let’s explore the bright side of pride as a form of self-respect:
Why Pride Matters
A Foundation of Self-Respect
Self-respect describes knowing your worth. Pride adds to that knowledge by making sure you don’t settle for less than what you deserve.
With that, pride empowers you to set boundaries and priorities, protect your values, and ensures you direct your energy toward what is worthy of it.
We’ve talked about setting boundaries plenty of times as it’s crucial to self-improvement and self-love. This is one of the reasons why developing a healthy and balanced amount of pride throughout your journey is just as essential.
An Anchor During Uncertainty
You might think of pride’s positive side as a mere resemblance of confidence, but that is not entirely true. Pride and confidence do go hand in hand. Nonetheless, confidence can be dependent on or influenced by external validation.
This is not about whether that is correct or not, but about the fact that it sometimes is.
Pride, on the other hand, arises from your knowledge of your own capabilities. It comes from within and can therefore act as an internal guide in difficult times.
In moments of weakness, fear, and loneliness, pride will remind you of your self-respect.
A Tool for Resilience
Resilience is another child of pride.
We’ve mentioned it at the very beginning: excessive pride exceeds pure resilience and leads to resentment towards feedback. But a balanced amount of pride allows you to determine constructive and destructive critique and enables you to withstand criticism or even rejection without losing your sense of self-worth.
The boundaries pride encourages you to form enable you to get rid of toxicity in your life. Once you feel betrayed or as though someone’s behaving in a way they shouldn’t towards you, pride will come in and relieve you of that—whether it’s relationships, unfulfilling opportunities, or environments.
A Quiet Form of Strength
You can observe pride’s toxic form by listening to arrogant individuals, the ones with a god complex, always bragging about how incredible their ideas are. These individuals are nearly unmissable because they are loud.
But pride does not always have to be loud. Pride can form as a quiet source of strength, one within.
As pride is not about seeking approval or validation from others, it won’t encourage you to act up if you’re not being disrespected in your values.
Pride is about honoring yourself—your within, the person you are, with all your flaws and shortcomings, all your weaknesses and strengths. It’s about being proud of yourself as a whole.
Pride can be about holding yourself to a standard you view as appreciative and admirable.
Pride is a powerful trait, capable of encouraging you to respect yourself. Don’t let its negative associations fool you into neglecting it out of your life. Instead, embrace the good aspects of pride and watch your life develop.
Here are some ways to embrace and incorporate pride into your life:
How to Embrace and Incorporate Pride
Reflect on Your Values and Set Boundaries
Pride relies on your values and boundaries. So, to protect these, you’ll need to determine them first.
To understand your values, you’ll need to reflect on them. Take your time and identify what truly matters to you, what you will and won’t tolerate in your life, whether it is behavior towards your persona or others.
Remember, these can change, and you won’t need to determine every value regarding every aspect of life at once. Let them develop naturally.
Afterwards, set boundaries based on your determination: read about setting boundaries here: >>Click Here<<
Get to Know Yourself
Acknowledging yourself and your actions is crucial in developing pride. In the end, to be proud, you’ll need to have something you’re proud of.
For example, you’ve completed the first step and determined your values. Acting accordingly to them will subconsciously signal self-respect — you’ve respected your values. That is something you can be proud of.
As well, get to know your good sides, your bad sides, your little quirks, and details about yourself. Can you recall how someone in love is described in books or movies? They start loving every detail about one another, whether it’s a trait they like or one that drives them furious, whether it’s something about the other one’s looks or simply a gesture they do when eating. That is what you should experience about yourself.
Honor and Celebration
Honor your uniqueness. Honor the uniqueness of your journey. Honor the uniqueness of your reality. Everyone perceives the world in their own way. Focus on your journey and understand that pride arises from very personal subjects and circumstances.
Acknowledge that differences are okay. What you are proud of is not worth less because someone else has a different opinion, and vice versa.
Don’t compare.
This applies to accomplishments as well. Learn to celebrate them without downplaying them, even though someone else might try to downplay what you’ve reached or they are at a different point in their journey than you.
Again, don’t compare.
Balance Pride with Openness
To ensure you are not drifting towards the toxic side of pride, also remember to stay open to growth.
You’ll have to learn to determine words that are meant to help you move forward from ones that originate from the intention to keep you stagnated.
Constructive phrases will focus on opportunities and areas for growth, often paired with suggestions for addition or changes. They aren’t phrased in a demanding way. Destructive criticism, on the other hand, focuses on negativity and blame. These phrases will pinpoint mistakes without offering help or support.
To get back to pride and openness, when confronted with destructive thoughts, feel free to leave and let your pride help you block off things that won’t encourage or help you move forward.
But, on the other hand, implement openness when facing constructive feedback, as pride should reinforce your self-worth without closing you off to feedback or new perspectives.
Practice Gratitude Alongside Pride
Another important factor you’ll need to pay attention to is gratitude. Just as with openness, gratitude ensures that pride does not develop towards isolation or being ego-driven.
Gratitude is also a theme we’ve mentioned often here on our self-improvement platform. It can be a great source of happiness and satisfaction and can actually reinforce pride as well.
Reminding yourself of what you’re thankful for can also result in realizing that there are more things in your life to be proud of than you might have initially thought.
Gratitude has the ability to balance and reinforce, making it a superpower in developing pride.
Model Pride in Everyday Actions
Pride is not a situational decision. We’ve scratched the surface of that when we compared it to confidence before. Confidence can sometimes be connected to situations or circumstances. Pride, on the other hand, is deeply rooted in your core values, which, in the end, determine the way you walk through life.
Pay attention to showing respect towards yourself and others in the way you speak, act, and behave. Pride isn’t solely about life-changing decisions, but about aligning your everyday actions and your surroundings with your worth.
So, the next time you hear someone downplaying pride, remember this post. Remember that pride is more than a superiority complex.
Pride is about patience in waiting for what you deserve.
Pride is about strength in standing up for what you believe in.
Pride is about appreciation in learning to love every detail about yourself.
Pride is about resilience in a form of internal validation.
Pride is about respect in one’s behavior towards oneself and others.
Pride is about self-improvement in the way it protects your energy and yourself.