Oh sure, I'm proud of many things – how our girls turned out, how much Don and I have accomplished in our business and on our farm, that kind of thing – but I am not a proud person. Or does saying that smack of pride?
The reason for this (cough) profound observation is an article I stumbled across this morning entitled "25 ways to kill the toxic ego that will ruin your life." My life could be ruined by any number of things, but I'll admit a "toxic ego" is not one of them.
The author covers such helpful advice as "Stop telling yourself a story – there is no grand narrative. When you achieve any sort of success you might think that success in the future is just the natural and expected next part of the story. This is a straightforward path to failure – by getting too cocky and overconfident" and "Forget credit and recognition. … Submit under people who are already successful and learn and absorb everything you can. Forget credit." He also recommends "Getting out of your own head" and "Letting go of control."
I had no objection to any of the 25 pieces of advice this author upheld – it's fairly sensible stuff – but it also reinforced how little I care about ego. I have many other sins which elbow that one out of the way.
I think this lack of pride and ego is one of the reasons I don't understand the lust for power. It's often jaw-dropping to watch politicians in action: the need to build themselves up by tearing everyone else down, the constant bragging about all the stellar accomplishments they've achieved while in office (which usually means our personal freedoms have been further curtailed as a result), the pseudo-modest recitation of their flawless private lives.
So yeah, I have a lot of other sins to work on, but pride isn't one of them.
Except for the garden. I'm pretty proud of that.
I just don't think I'm "toxically" proud, nor do I think it will "ruin my life." Phew.
