The pitfalls of pride

The Pitfalls of Pride

Tim Connor

Pride is a human trait that can ruin your life or it can give you success, happiness and contentment.  Why the difference?

Every emotion, feeling, attitude and mindset all have degrees of emphasis or dominance. For example – confidence is a positive trait but too much of it and you may become over confident and that won’t necessarily bode well for you in your life. Boldness or assertiveness can serve you well but if they become rudeness or aggressiveness – again – might not be endearing qualities that serve you well in your relationships.

So, everything has a degree factor too little, too much or an appropriate amount given a situation, circumstances or relationship. Yes there are times when we need to assert ourselves but there are also times when humility will be a better approach.  Yes, confidence is a positive trait but I have seen many people destroy their career, business or life in general when they became over confident.

How are we to know what is the correct amount of pride to maintain and demonstrate in our life?  Wonderful question. Let’s talk about it.

First what is pride? Pride – How about a few synonyms - arrogance, conceit, smugness or self importance – or a definition - a haughty attitude shown by somebody who believes, often unjustifiably, that he or she is better than others - something such as an achievement or possession that somebody feels especially pleased and satisfied with -the happy satisfied feeling somebody experiences when having or achieving something special that other people admire.  The opposite of all of these is humility – the quality of being modest, meekness and/or respectful.

What are some of the negative consequences of too much pride?

- increased conflict with others.

- the inability to admit to mistakes or weaknesses.

- bad decisions.

- knee jerk responses to circumstances that require more thoughtful

   consideration.

- negative future consequences that could have been avoided.

- increased stress.

I could go on, but these are enough I believe that require you seriously consider taking a closer look at your level of pride and its impact on your career, relationships and life in general.

There are two ways to view the trait or characteristic of pride – from a spiritual perspective and from a human one.

From a spiritual perspective –

“As humility goes before honor, pride goes before a fall.” Prov. 16:18

“God gives grace to the humble.” 1 Peter 5:5

From a human perspective –

Think about it for a moment that last time you had a conflict or disagreement with someone – was pride a factor with either or both of you?

Pride is a good quality to have when it is used for self-good or the good of others. But when it takes over your attitudes, values, mindsets, expectations and personal philosophy, trust me sooner or later you are going to experience some negatives as a result.  These may not be life threatening but they can certainly be relationship threatening.

“Happiness, greatness and pride –

nothing is secure, nothing keeps.”

Euripides