Would you say you're a prideful person? Chances are you wouldn't because

of course we equate pride with vanity and arrogance. A prideful person

must always be bragging about what they have, where they've been, and

why they're so much better than you.

Would you say you have self-esteem or self-confidence? While pride is often

equated with arrogance, self-esteem and self-confidence are typically things

that we admire in others and want for ourselves. When we see a colleague

gracefully making a presentation at the office or a classmate breezing

through a speech, we wonder how they can do that so easily and wish we

had their confidence. And when we get nervous over the smallest class

participation or question asked by the boss, we realize how a lack of

confidence and esteem can cost us dearly.

But what really is meant by self-confidence? What is self-esteem? Why are

these things good but we think of pride as being bad?