The Dangers Of Pride At Early Age

Pride is one thing that brings about misfortunes upon people who carry their heads up too high.

I learned something from a colleague at work: Jeremy. He is such a humble soul; he is someone who, if I or anyone else were in his place or position, would cause a stare or attention whenever I walked past people.

His humility is captivating, and I always wondered if he was a pretender to get more praise from people, colleagues, and even the boss or if he was just being natural. One day, I had to gather courage and funnily question his personality.

According to him:

“I used to be someone full of pride and self-satisfaction. On my eighteenth birthday, my dad got me a new shoe, a suit, and a gold wristwatch.

I also had a pocket full of coins due to the outcome of the birthday celebration, which I showcased to everyone and anyone who cared to see. My brothers were also not exempted because I hoped to impress and make them envious of me.

This may sound as though I am a rich kid, but I was just an ordinary employee who worked in a printing shop.

While showcasing my temporary wealth, an older man pulled me aside and taught me one of the greatest lessons I can never forget in a hurry. His voice sounded so wry, he said: “Do not hold your head up high, else you’ll doge hard thumps in this world.”

I was still trying to decipher what he meant, and he made another statement: “You are young and brilliant; do not let pride overshadow your focus.”

Most Christians see pride as a sin; true, it is the brother of lies, which is a sin as well because pride will make you see yourself as someone who you’re not.

If you’re not careful, pride will convince you and make you believe that you are more important than others and even make you think you are more significant than God has created you.

But this is a fact, and we don’t need to be Christians to tap this wisdom. Pride sparks arrogance and disconnects you from others. Aside from this, another harm pride causes to humanity is distraction, which mostly leads you to errors and causes time wastage.

And sometimes, the instruments we need to succeed or progress in life are harshly destroyed due to pride. Most of which is our flexibility around people, relationship building, and co-existing with others.

All these happen mostly during our early lives or the beginner stage of trying to acquire something magnificent in life. Additionally, it confuses us and changes our perception of accomplishments; it replaces major accomplishments with minor ones.

This leads us to focus on the wrong path and direction in life, causing us to miss out on those things that would have been of great guidance in achieving our real goals and becoming what we ought to be.

In pride, we think:

● We are winners because we are taking the lead

● We are writers because we have published books

● We are special because we were chosen amongst others

● We are rich because we have a stable income than some people

● We are more important than others because we think so.

At one time in our lives, we may have harbored such thoughts in our hearts, and this keeps misleading our judgment.

However, do not forget the saying, “Catch the rabbit before you cook it, and pride always goes before the fall.” Do not succumb to arrogance by allowing small temporary successes to blind you and lead you to a pit hole of regrets.

It doesn’t always have to be about you; this is what pride does; it dulls the sense of having a proper aim in life.

And just like the great Genghis Khan, a famous conqueror, who always educates his sons that are ready to take after him: “If you can’t swallow your pride, you can’t lead.” he also made them understand that when they accept pride and allow it have control over them, it will be hard to fight against. Hence, there is a need to avoid and overcome.

Most people are always on guard to fight and rebuke those people around them who discourage and disregard their goals and things they aspire to achieve, this is a little easier compared to allowing pride to consume and control our actions and judgments.

“The earlier, the better”; hence, we must be ready to face pride, fight, and kill it before it destroys our aspirations.

One of the best ways to avoid pride is to prevent people with this sickness called pride. Also, we should seek to be around strivers like us for an effective and positive achievement.”

After the deep but educative conversation I had with Jeremy that day, my whole perspective of him changed, and I also began my journey to overcoming and killing pride for good. I wasn’t a prideful individual, though. However, I felt the need for a better personality.

From my journey so far, trying to become the opposite of pride is completely challenging but worth the trial.