Proud as a Peacock

Pride is at the top of the list of the seven deadly sins. The type of pride that is referred to is the unhealthy kind, where you overestimate your talents and accomplishments, or think you are superior to others for arbitrary reasons. This is the pride I was taught to avoid. I think of the parable of the Emperor’s New Clothes. It was the false pride in his appearance that let him believe the swindler’s claims about the clothes. That pride also kept him from saying anything when he did not see any cloth. History is littered with rulers and elite that seem arrogant, overly proud of themselves, who may eventually falter and fail.

Although pride in excess is bad, pride itself can be positive. Feeling good about your accomplishments and being proud of them is justified and healthy, especially after hard work and effort. Too often I downplay my achievements, quickly forgetting them and losing the opportunity to share them as stories. Remembering them would motivate me to accomplish even more. Being proud of them would inspire me to take more chances, give it my best effort, and achieve more. I need to acknowledge my accomplishments, as well as those of others.

My lack of caring or enthusiasm about anything is problematic. One remedy for that is having pride in what I do or have done in the past. It would also make me feel better and improve my self-confidence. When I stop and think about it, I have much that makes me proud: Graduating from college with honors, as well as passing my state exams to be licensed; Becoming a county engineer and all the good I was able to do there improving and maintaining the transportation system; Remodeling our home in North Carolina was a wonderful accomplishment and I felt good about what we created; Replacing the Sunfire’s convertible top, motor mounts, shifter cables, and evaporator core by ourselves was rewarding and not something most would attempt (and this was before youtube); Helping build our business in Florida; Making changes and fixes to our motorhome to make it more comfortable and usable; Cleaning up piles litter at Mission Canyon, Pando, and Scadden Wash, to name a few. I take pride in my traits of being hardworking, patient, and meticulous. It may not always be easy for me to remember, but I am proud of who I am.

Reminiscing about past acts and accomplishments makes me realize what the possibilities are...what I was like before, and who I want to be going forward. Although it may seem small, I am proud that I rode with a friend today, and helped make her first experience at a truck weighing scale easier and less stressful. Boosting my morale is an awesome benefit of having pride in my actions.

We have been outside much of the last couple days enjoying the warmer temperatures. Saturday and Sunday had bountiful sun, but today was more cloudy. They are predicting rain for the rest of the week, so I am delighted we were able to bask in the good weather. We rode the new bikes to the flea market and bought a few things yesterday. It was mostly foodstuffs at the discount grocery tent, but we did get a new runner for the floor, since Suki no longer likes walking on the linoleum. We spent most of today chatting up the neighbors. We will miss them if they head out later in the week, but I have a feeling we will meet up again another day.

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