They say pride robs us of motivation and perseverance. Or is it about pride?! Let's try to understand these concepts! Surely you can remember how in childhood adults said that being proud of yourself is wrong. It's better to make others proud of you. But in fact, feeling proud of yourself is a wonderful feeling that helps strengthen social connections and keeps you motivated. When we feel proud of ourselves, we know that we are moving in the right direction. What is the difference between pride and arrogance? While pride gives us energy, inspiration and strength to move forward, pride makes us freeze in place. It can not only sabotage a person’s development, but also cause him to rapidly fall from the top of his success to the very bottom. Perhaps among your friends there is a person who strives to be the best in everything. In any case, he sincerely wants to be admired. Sometimes he shows unmotivated aggression, resentment, and gloating. Those around him either approach him or move away, and all because the person behaves extremely inconsistently. In moments of good mood and self-confidence, it attracts people and encourages emotional communication. But as soon as a streak of failure sets in, he immediately rejects everyone around him. At the same time, he himself will say that he has no problems with self-esteem and is generally the best. This is a clear example of pride. The person experiencing it does not feel that the success he receives belongs to him. He feels that at any moment he can lose everything he has, and therefore is in total tension and is often aggressive. As if he were protecting his own borders. When we talk about a person who is proud of himself, we mean a kind, sympathetic and open person. He knows very well that his successes did not fall on him like manna from heaven. He can name the cause-and-effect relationship in the achievements that others now admire. By the way, yes, unlike a person who is proud, others are constantly drawn to a person who is proud of himself. They are pleased even just to be next to such a person. In other words, pride is based on real achievements, the path traveled and efforts, that is, on excess. Pride, on the contrary, is a kind of synonym for deficiency. What to choose in favor of - the decision is yours. Sincerely, Your psychologist, consultant, cognitive behavioral therapist, Yulia Churina