Saima Ikram
Emotions such as gratitude and compassion are universally seen as positive feelings. These are the emotions that are considered to make us more patient and more willing to persist in the face of challenges. But we have never thought that there is any another emotion that can do similar things. That unique emotion is our pride and it is inherently social and can help us achieve our goals.
Pride is like a double sided sword, too much of it can inflate our ego and can create a drive for external validation. Whereas, too less of pride can convince ourselves and others that we are not good at anything and we can easily be taken for granted. But pride doesn’t have to be bad at all; it is required by us in a healthy way. We need to accept the balance between pride and humility.
Following are the reasons why you need to enjoy the positive side of pride:
Have higher standards:
People who take pride in their work often set high standards for themselves and others. They give their best to any project and never get satisfied with the poor quality. Their pride does not allow them to procrastinate, instead, they think of how to perform their work in a more efficient way to come up to their own set standards.
It makes you resilient:
A balanced amount of pride makes us resilient. When things do not go as planned, pride is the only emotion you can rely on to keep going. It makes us work hard no matter what the circumstances are.
It makes you responsible:
When we take pride in our work, we take care of the things we are responsible for. A little care for whatever comes under our management makes us feel we have been assigned a special duty and we should perform it to our best.
It improves leadership:
Once we care for the things under our control, we fight for protecting them to the best we can. If a project or organization is in jeopardy, it spurs our leadership skills and forces us to lead the way.
Caring for our family:
Pride gives us the sense of care which extends from our work to our family. We try to provide them with the best things in life and do our best not to let them suffer in difficult conditions.
