Do Not Let Pride Win Over
How many times have we felt that hopeless grin on our face after winning a trophy or even after scoring the highest in a subject? And then how many of us have found ourselves boasting about it to every possible person we can meet? I am among the many of us who will relate to this, even though we deny the charges in public.
A friend of mine was exceptionally good in football. He was one of the finest players his school team ever had. After winning eight matches in a league, they were declared the champion team. Everyone was mighty impressed with the boy and he was very pleased with himself too. He started blowing his own trumpets about the skills he had, about how perfect he was and how no one in the league teams was as talented as he was. He stopped practicing much, thinking that he is the best and does not require to put in much effort. He surrounded himself with a set of supposedly cool friends who were basically a bunch of hopeless wannabes and started hanging out in malls rather than practicing on the field. Seeing this sea-change in the attitude of the player, people started considering him arrogant. The admiration and the adulation he was subjected to as the star player of his team was now stemmed. A few months later, another league started and the player, being terribly out of practice, flunked miserably on the field. He was no more the hero of the team.
It’s not that his talent vaporized overnight, but what consumed him is his hubris. He was so busy chasing the fame and attention that he ended up ruining himself forever.
C.S. Lewis once rightly quoted –“A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.”
This happens with most of us, the magnitude may vary of course. We let a bubble of pride build itself over ourselves after an achievement and only after it is too late, we realize that we have damaged our own talents. The bottom line is- the world is full of competition; the talented are many, the recognized are few. Undoubtedly we want to impress the people around because the society functions that way. But we must remember the reason for our fame. We must not forget what we were before we being exalted by the masses.
Learn to be a little less reactive, and a lot calmer. Don’t let “the win” reach your head and make you proud. Understand that there is a long way to go and many examples to be set. Keep learning. Keep exploring. Never be satisfied with yourself because life is too short to have the I-know-everything attitude. Just take a look outside, there is a whole world left to explore. Keep trudging along, winning and losing are just a part of the journey. The important thing is to give your best every time you are out there. That is what really matters.
So next time you win a trophy or even get the highest marks in a subject, do grin but stop before the grin reaches your head!
Image courtesy : www.businessknowhow.com
About author : Ishita Goel is a 2nd year Dual Degree (B.Tech + MBA) student at Mukesh Patel School of Technology and Management, NMIMS Mumbai.
