Pride and ego can be so detrimental to many of our ships whether it be friendships, intimate relationships, or family relationships. Don’t get me wrong pride can be positive to an extent. A healthy amount of pride can drive you to achieve the best things in life and become successful. It’s when one becomes self-centered and avoids doing something that can help cultivate a strong connection that it becomes a problem. Ego is when someone thinks too highly of themselves and that they are without fault.
A lot of the times we don’t want to admit when we could be wrong or consider another person’s perception. We’re focused on winning the argument and we don’t take time to reflect. I used to find it hard apologising for my part in a situation because I was too focused on what another person did or said to me. For the past few months, I learned that it does not help a situation (yes, even if that person did me wrong first). In the moment it is hard, but when you’re given space and enough time to reflect it is much easier. Although it is tough, I would say that I’ve gotten better at it for the past few months.
It’s important to note that when you have conflicts, it’s not you vs the person but rather you and them vs the problem. I say this because a lot of the times when I see people argue in the various ships mentioned above, you’d think they were opponents whose ship were not built on the premise of love or empathy. If someone in your ship doesn’t like the way you’ve been acting lately, hear them out because their feelings are just as important as yours. It may be uncomfortable to hear at times, but try and understand why they feel the way they do to seek a reasonable resolution, not a war.
When you create safe spaces for people to express themselves without invalidation or defensiveness, you will build stronger connections.
Remember that we don’t live in a perfect world, no one’s ship is without fault. We can either see it as worth losing or maintaining.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope to see you again soon!
1 Corinthians 13:4–7.
