It takes a lot to admit you were wrong. Your pride, your very sense of self-importance, feels wounded. You don't feel right, and getting that to heal takes longer than you would care to admit. The same sort of feelings come from failure, injury, and loss. You might not like it very much, but taking hits to your pride may very well make you a better person.
When I was young, I probably could have done with a few more jabs to my pride. Growing up, my failures were small and inconsequential in the end. Even when I joined my local high school football team, my pride stayed relatively unharmed and intact. Which made my forced epiphany sting so much worse. I was forced to admit I was wrong, that I had failed, and I lost. And that hurt more than any time I got tackled during football.
People often confuse their pride with ego. While the two are indeed similar, pride is being proud of what you have accomplished and what you know you can do. Ego is believing you can do something, you estimation of yourself based on experience. Egotistical people believe they can do more than they can, prideful people have faith in their abilities (oftentimes a bit too much).
My tips on pride? Learn when to be humble! It's okay to be proud of yourself and what you can do, but try not to overdo it. For instance, recognizing when you are wrong, when you need help, and similar times is the best thing you can do to curb your pride. Outside of experiencing everything you can, including those failures.
So go out there while you still have safety and security. Go through phases. Try out things that you haven't yet. Fail at things, get hurt having fun, lose some games, and do things wrong. It's learning to swallow your pride that can help free you to improve yourself, not matter what you plan to do with your future. Get out there and live your life with the intent of making it the most fulfilling you can.
You only get the one, so don't weigh yourself down with your pride, and let it carry you instead.
-Crafty
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