Confidence vs Pride

Hola beautiful people, I trust everything is going smoothly, if not, believe it will soon. Keep the optimism and everything will turn out fine. Today, I have been home lazying around and since my group finished our field practical training earlier than expected. I have till Thursday to rest before we leave on Friday. In between resting and doing nothing, my mind has wandered around and I caught myself between a two words which are often mistaken for one another.

Oftentimes, confidence or more specifically self-confidence is usually mistaken for pride. They are two different words, and by no means synonymous. Truth is that, people’s perception is often magnified by the glass through which they see you. Thus, why one can easily mistake your confidence for pride and ego. Now, let’s get down to the business of today.

MEANING

According to Oxford English Dictionary, Confidence is the feeling that you can trust, believe in and be sure about the abilities or good qualities of somebody or something.

While pride is a feeling of pleasure or satisfaction that you get when you or people who are connected with you have done something well or own something that other people admire.

SIMILARITIES

From the definitions above, it is clear to understand that confidence and pride have two different meanings, they do have similarities, in that they are feelings associated with one's self or feeling in someone else or something. And one can see why one can be mistaken for another. As the similarity is evident.

Usually, it is easy for others to mistake your confidence in something or your ability when they don't share the same feeling as you. Sometimes, it could stem from envy or inferiority complex, and the only way for them to feel better about their ill feeling is to brand your confidence as pride.

DIFFERENCES

Confidence involves feeling certain about one's ability, or someone else's abilities or on something such as a machine. The advantage of confidence is that it can be infectious and have a good effect on other people. For instance, if I believe in the abilities of a friend and I assured them of the confidence I have in them, it can be a confidence booster for said friend too. Also, having confidence can help one deal with anxiety, as it is a thing and a serious one that can have negative effects.

Pride on the other hand has to do with pleasure gotten from admiration of one's ability or possession or someone else's whom we are familiar with. Pride often puts people off and repel them from us. Pride can be imaginative and ill conceived, as it stems from one's self. A person may have the false impression that their ability or possession is admired or envied by others, then they have false pride in that.

CONCLUSION

Pride and confidence are two different terms and feeling, and I must admit that it can be difficult to know the difference between both, as there is a thin line between them. That is not to say they are two sides of a coin and having pride in someone else isn't necessarily bad. I can be proud of someone I know because of what they have done or accomplished and this is me having pride in them. I guess the pride I am talking about is the one in one's self. In other words, Narcissism. That should have been the word instead, and since it is my lazy day, I am unwilling to make the necessary changes to the article. So, I'll leave you with a few inspirational quotes.

"Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained."

— MARIE CURIE

"When you have confidence, you can have a lot of fun. And when you have fun, you can do amazing things."

—JOE NAMATH

"Pride is an admission of weakness; it secretly fears all competition and dreads all rivals."

— FULTON J. SHEEN

Thank You For Reading 🖤🖤