Pride is a nasty thing. Ironically, we may be good at spotting it in others, but can miss it in ourselves.

Some symptoms of pride include always trying to one up another person. Meaning, if they caught a “big” fish, our fish story has to be bigger.

Perhaps, we also have a hard time admitting we’re wrong, or appearing like we don’t know something. This exhausting trait of pride makes us feel the need to share and defend our opinion on how most everything should be done, and/or any problem solved.

Then of course there is the constant armchair critic who most always has a comment on how “they” would do things, as compared to others.

Clearly, pride is ugly and is the byproduct of insecurity, fear, doubt, narcissism, and/or life events, but thankfully, we don’t have to be victims of it.

We can change and choose humility, courage, and encouragement. This is much more attractive to others and even helps us feel better about ourselves in the long run.

It begins with expanding our view so that we don’t just see the pride in others, but also in ourselves. We can even welcome feedback from those we know have our best interests at heart to share with us where and when we might be prideful and being open to prayerful change.

Interestingly, I’ve discovered the times I’m tending to be prideful, it’s subtle and seems to spring from areas deep within me that have ties to insecurities and fears that are rooted to childhood events. This is why prayer, reflection, and having trusted accountability to explore these sometimes painful areas in our own lives is so valuable and a true gift.