At night I read Fiction books to clear my mind and escape a little. Recently I finished my first ebook by reading Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen on my iPhone. Although it is the favorite book of a large percentage of women I found it to be enjoyable to somebody such as myself, who is a man. One quote struck me early on. It was said by the female protagonist, Elizabeth Bennett, who had a sharper eye and keener wit that the other women in the book. Speaking about a man that was handsome, bright and wealthy some of the ladies commented that he was vain. Elizabeth Bennett commented that:
“Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.”
I am not a supporter of unfounded pride, or the type of pride that causes one to look down upon others. This is more of a post on the vice of vanity. I’ve spoken with a lot of people that have had a hard time at work, or some other interpersonal situation, where they felt criticized and discouraged by the opinion of others. If you are doing your best work and you are proud of what you’ve accomplished do not let others take that away from you. Most likely they’re being critical because they aren’t doing their best and they don’t like seeing you do yours.
The rub to all of this is that if you aren’t doing your best, if you are doing the average and the ordinary, then you deserve to be the recipient of all the fiery darts of criticism. Allow yourself to feel the pain of doing something mediocre, then resolve never to do so again.
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