WHEN PRIDE COMES, THEN COMES DISGRACE, BUT WITH HUMILITY COMES WISDOM - Proverbs 11:2

Humility - noun

Definition of humility: 

Freedom from pride or arrogance: the quality of having a modest or low view of one’s importance - a state of being humble.

You might be thinking, why am I obsessed with humility? This weekend I watched a well-known woman, a writer, a leader who empowers thousands, a mother of four children and a social media mogul destroy herself and her credibility with an inflated ego and arrogance. It was pretty sad to witness. I was fascinated by the human behaviour of her whole situation and how it got so out of her control. Looking back now at her behaviour, it has been coming for a while now - “The writing has been on the wall for a while”. She started out with nothing and did work really hard to get where she was, she grew into something really powerful and stood for empowering others, but she made the ultimate mistake, her ego got bigger than the game. She forgot who she was serving. She forgot humility.

When things like this happen, people often find a perverse “yup, you see” kind of mentality when the mighty fall, but, we ultimately shouldn’t judge anyone during their downfall. That makes us arrogant as well, I always try to think about what the lesson here could be? What can I learn from this?

It made me think of great leaders that I admire who all have true humility. They are very vocal about how truly grateful they are for the blessings in their lives, and they appreciate the opportunities awarded them. They are open, non-judgemental, don’t brag about accomplishments and work ethics.

Today we live in a world where people spend so much time trying to impress others, to show off, to stand out, and to achieve clout and status. They tell us how unique or stronger or better or harder working or more deserving they are. But that is unfortunately just the modern ethos that’s been enabled by social media and it’s terribly seductive and, sadly, vastly rewarded. Of course, we all have an ego but those with humility recognises its traps and immaturity and guard against it. They work to build the type of character whereby they don’t take themselves too seriously. They pay attention to the world. They see the poverty and the problems that others just hide from and they face the hard truths of the world while keeping everything in perspective. They know the common human struggles and also the surprising divine gifts of humanity, and in that awareness, they stay centred and grateful. They also seem to have a genuine spirit of joy and always have encouragement for others. There is a lack of arrogance, and a minimized ego is evident in their interactions with others. This is the kind of person who lives with humility whether they are successful or not. They always seem to stay on top and thrive. There is no big fall of the mighty because they never consider themselves mightier than others.

I have two children and I hope and pray I lived and taught them the value of humility. To have grown from humble beginnings myself and meeting so many remarkable people along the way, who are all striving and contributing through the most difficult of times. All the while staying humble and grateful while sharing their stories with me and enriching my life. I have met some amazing leaders and have tried to use their lessons through all of my own challenges, flaws and distractions. I have also experienced the opposite of that, the arrogance, the ego-driven, all-important social status-driven people.

In my opinion, the lesson to take away here is to always stay grateful for everything in our lives. We never do it alone, even though it may seem so at times.  To stay humble, we must remind ourselves that we are never better than anyone else - never. We have no idea what challenges someone else is facing. Check the ego, especially when things are going well because it’s so easy to forget your humility when you are on top. That is where great leaders are separated from the real deal and that of social media imposters. “How the mighty fall” is a saying that’s been around for a very long time and it is so for a reason. The fall is always ugly and brutal and to be guaranteed. It always happens when arrogance and the ego take over and sometimes it just takes a bit of time but when looking back in history, one can always find evidence of the fall of the mighty.

Proverbs 11:2 couldn’t have said it any better - WHEN PRIDE COMES, THEN COMES DISGRACE, BUT WITH HUMILITY COMES WISDOM- disgrace will surely follow pride and arrogance, but humility will bring you the wisdom that you need. Strive for wisdom, strive to empower others, strive to serve and build and give, and strive to be grateful and appreciative of all the opportunities that you have along your path, and lastly strive to open the door for others along the way. 

I do feel sorry for this woman’s destruction that she brought on herself, my heart goes out to her and everyone that her arrogance has touched. I hope she can learn from this and recover in time. It has made an impact on my life for the better. It is now very clear to me how far I’ve come and how far I still have to go because at the end of the day I definitely don’t want to be that kind of person. I hope that in sharing this, I might have shed some light for you as well. 

To all the humble strivers and givers out there .... please know you are appreciated, we need you and thank you.

Tania

XOXO