Would you say you're a prideful person? Chances are you wouldn't because
of course we equate pride with vanity and arrogance. A prideful person
must always be bragging about what they have, where they've been, and
why they're so much better than you.
Would you say you have self-esteem or self-confidence? While pride is often
equated with arrogance, self-esteem and self-confidence are typically things
that we admire in others and want for ourselves. When we see a colleague
gracefully making a presentation at the office or a classmate breezing
through a speech, we wonder how they can do that so easily and wish we
had their confidence. And when we get nervous over the smallest class
participation or question asked by the boss, we realize how a lack of
confidence and esteem can cost us dearly.
But what really is meant by self-confidence? What is self-esteem? Why are
these things good but we think of pride as being bad?