Pride, in excess, is a dangerous emotion. It starts out as a form of support, sticking around when everyone else has left, whispering words of encouragement that fuels the ego, just enough for us to keep going. But pride also feeds on pride— it is the drug of aspirations. As pride grows, you become more confident in yourself. Your posture changes, you begin to think your opinions really matter. “This is healthy,” you think. You’ve finally found the confidence to articulate yourself, so you begin to do so more and more. At some point you notice a couple people disagreeing with you but you let it slide since they probably don’t know as much as you. You might be wrong, but you didn’t become who you are today by accepting your faults. You remember the days of being shy and miserable and promise yourself to never return to that state of mind. No, you’ve accepted yourself for who you are and there is no need to apologize for that. Now pride has grown big enough to serve as a barrier between you and the rest of the world. It’s you vs. the world now baby, and you know from previous experience that you have what it takes to take the world on. The number of naysayers have increased substantially, but it doesn’t even matter now. Your past experiences tell you that the probability of you being wrong is basically zero. There isn’t even a slightest need to consider whether some of them might be right. But why aren’t people listening to you anymore? You’ve never been so frustrated. You can’t believe how dumb people can be. Why don’t they understand what you’re saying? By now you’re standing upon the wall of pride you’ve built, down at the peasants that just don’t get it. Unfortunately, no one else sees this wall— it is a personal creation, after all. The rest of us don’t even know you’ve erected such a thing. When you’re looking down at us in frustration, we don’t see the wall. All we see is you, at ground level just like the rest of us, staring at the ground so intently that you might as well have your head buried in it. You refuse to look up no matter what we say, and so we just collectively decide to leave you be. It’s you vs. the world forever, baby.