The fine line between Ego and Self Respect: How to prevent yourself from crossing the line?

Yes, you read it right Ego is the most unproductive emotion of a human being. It only causes pain and grief. A lot of us get confused between self –Respect and Ego. Wisdom is to know the difference between Ego and Self- Respect. When our ego gets satisfied there is happiness, and when hurt there is pain and irritation. Self-Respect is beyond respect and disrespect.

Overview of Self Respect ( Swabhiman)

Ego is (Ahankaar) and Self Respect is (Swabhiman). Self-Respect always propels one to work hard for self –satisfaction whereas Ego can make a person manipulative, calculative, and a liar. Ego can hurt others but Self-respect will always help you to make wise decisions. We all need to take ourselves seriously to get respect from others, right? That is- Self Respect – it is one thing but then there is Ego which is a negative emotion. It can destroy you as a person. It can make you unproductive and curb your thought process.

Also Read: How To Get A Grip On Your Ego?

The fine line between Ego and Self- Respect

There is a fine line between both of them and a lot of us cross that fine line without even knowing. Ego alienates you from the outer world because it works on only ‘Me’ concept. Ego will make you feel superior from others and that will damage your relationships. But one should be aware of the fact that Ego makes you dependent on the external world for approval.

How can you prevent yourself from crossing the fine line between Ego and Self Respect?

There is a fine line between Ego and Self Respect and you should keep doing a reality check on a regular basis to know your status. Here is how?

Ego is about pride and bragging about your achievements but Self Respect is about self-power
Ego seeks dependency whereas Self- Respect will make you self-dependent
Ego will make you a victim and will make you powerless whereas self-respect will empower you to make wise and right decisions.
Ego alienate you from others whereas self –respect will bring closer to others because you will able to empathize with others.

Ego and Relationships

When are we talking about Ego how we can forget relationships? Both are inversely proportional to each other. The more ego you will have, the fewer relationships will work in your life. A lot of relationships fail just because of ego. Be it professional or personal, the ego can completely kill a relationship. Would ask you a person for financial advice who doesn’t even have a basic knowledge of market? No, right. Because you know that they don’t have that skills.

However, when it comes to love, we turn to our egos make the decisions, rather than our soul. And the problem is ego doesn’t have relationship skills so it can help us. It can only make the situation worst by manipulation, resistance, and anger. The ego’s choices end up becoming very resistant to love and our relationships turn into ego battleship.

Also Read: 6 Love Lessons To Learn From Newlywed Couple Virat And Anushka

Here are few signs that can tell you that your relationship has now changed into Ego Battleship:

You people always keep arguing and you don’t want to compromise.
You never leave a chance of proving your partner wrong
The blame game. Both of you are running away from the commitment, and you just don’t want to take any responsibility.
There is always a feeling of revenge and anger
You have become intolerant

Ego at work
Ego clashes not only occur in a personal relationship but it also occurs at Workplaces. Ego clashes at work can affect the environment of the workplace. It can make you an unproductive employee and will also affect the overall performance of an organization. Serious ego clashes at the workplace can be really stressful and can be really demoralizing for colleagues. Despite stretching any issue, one should try to resolve the problem by communication with the concerned person.

Leave E and Let it go to save your relationship

Here are 5 tips to keep your ego in check:

Manage your tendencies to overreact. Try not to overreact to a situation. Try to understand the situation first with a cool mind.
Understand you cannot be right all the time. So analysis the situation and accept your fault if require.
Stop complaining and accepting things. Everything will not work according to your will so stop complaining.
A compromise is always an option. There is no battle that you have to win so try to compromise.
Give space for advice. Try to seek advice from others you will get a different perspective.

Conclusion: Self Respect and Ego can never be same. Ego will only take you towards pain and grief whereas practicing self-respect will make you a confident person. But the question is how many of us actually try to prevent ourselves from crossing the fine line between Ego (Most unproductive Emotion) Self Respect? Some cross it unintentionally but some do it intentionally- That results – a broken relationship, depression, anger, frustration, and much more. Remember Ego makes you powerless. It may give you satisfaction instantly but with the passage of time, you will become a victim. It will misshape your life and will make you a weak induvial. Ego will make you dependent on others for approval.

Indeed Ego is an ‘unproductive emotion’ so keep a check and prevent yourself from producing it on a regular basis. After all, “Humanity is the biggest virtue”. There is nothing right or wrong, big or small, good or bad – it’s all in mind. Do not hold on to the grudges. Let it go and make space for learning something new.

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