The battle between love and pride
Love… a concept so simple to say, yet so complex to understand.
Sometimes it arrives accompanied by happiness, by moments that allow us to see life from a different perspective, accompanied by a force that drives us to be better people. Yet, it can also bring doubts, fear and wounds we never imagined experiencing.
For a long time, I believed love was enough. And, in a way, it was. Because love was always willing to stay, to fight and to believe.
Until I met pride.
Then, a silent battle began within me. A constant struggle between two forces that, though seemingly opposed, were pursuing the same purpose.
Love wanted to stay. Pride wanted to protect me.
One urged me to open my heart, to feel for others, to not be alone. The other reminded me of the times I had been hurt. Both spoke from different places, yet neither wanted to see me fall.
And when they finally stopped clashing, awareness appeared.
She arrived calmly, without demanding answers or judging my wounds. She simply sat with me in the silence and waited for me to be ready to listen.
I didn’t want to accept her words. I didn’t want to face what I had tried to ignore for so long. But amidst tears and sobs, I grasped a truth that had been right in front of me the whole time.
Love and pride were never enemies. They simply chose different paths to protect the same thing. Me.
One wanted to love someone else. The other wanted to remind me that I, too, deserved to be loved.
And that was when I understood that self-love does not mean an absence of love for others. It is the foundation that allows us to love, without losing ourselves.
