Self-deprecation comes with excessive guilt, shame, and dissatisfaction. But is it possible to deal with it? How can self-deprecation become a significant asset to success? Let’s find out.
Undermining, neglecting, and sarcastically joking about the irrelevance of existence are some of the typical traits of self-deprecation that can make a person lose enthusiasm in life.
One of my dear friends during high school suffered from this unhealthy tendency to underestimate and disrespect himself with unusual and quirky jokes that were entirely based on his perception of himself.
He was also one of the possible victims of domestic abuse and had a very emotionally sensitive personality. His sensitivity made him even more reclusive and withdrawn, but he remained the same with his self-deprecation.
Success cannot be conquered without considering self-deprecation and its role in our life. Turns out, we were wrong most of the time about the benefits of self-deprecation.
Benefits? Why would self-deprecation have any benefits?
Well, we have always generalized self-deprecation as a uniquely flawed trait that makes a person incapable. It seems things are different than they are.
So, “How can self-deprecation become a significant asset to success?”
Let’s find out.
Why self-deprecation is an undesirable trait?
To be honest, none of the traits are undesirable. Each one of these traits has its relevance in life. Still, people believe self-deprecation is bad for healthy well-being.
Now, let us consider a child with an insatiable thirst for learning new and exciting things. He likes to engage in stuff that brings out the best in him. However, he later realizes that he just doesn’t feel good enough anymore, and the things that used to excite him are no longer interesting.
It makes him sad and dissatisfied. He slowly enters into the neverending loop of shame and self-deprecation. This is where he ultimately develops a kind of inferior complex concerning his abilities.
So, here are 3 real reasons why self-deprecation is considered an undesirable trait.
1. Self-deprecation shows us our inner demons:
That sounds poetic, right?
Well, that is because it is. Self-deprecation is like a mirror that shows us our true selves. The desires, needs, and ambitions all emanate from our negative side, which is ugly enough to bother us frequently.
We might run from it and would neglect it being a part of us. However, our ignorance towards our ugly side and unacceptance of our unhealthy traits makes it impossible for us to look at self-deprecation from a different side.
Inner demons just mean our ugliness inside, which is equally important to understand and accept.
2. Self-deprecation makes us apathetic:
“Can you imagine yourself having no enthusiasm and excitement in life?”
Certainly not. Most people would do anything to be excited and full of energy every time. Not only this, but we also have an incessant need to gain interest in all kinds of activities that promote a good personality.
But self-deprecation makes us apathetic and unable to enjoy things with the same magnitude others do. Moreover, nothing seems exciting and fun anymore, which makes it very undesirable.
3. Self-deprecation is too overwhelming and intense:
Humanity fears the moving and overwhelming things that take a toll on our mental and emotional health. Similar to self-hatred and denial, self-deprecation is very overwhelming and intense to handle.
Most people have no clue what to do when they feel inferior or suffer from an inferiority complex. Having low confidence and disappointment adds extra baggage to an already troubled person.
Due to its stable and long-lasting effects on human experiences, self-deprecation is seldom desirable and can leave a permanent mark in life if not handled appropriately.
So, here are 3 reasons why self-deprecation is undesirable.
But, “How can self-deprecation become a significant asset to success?”
Let’s find out in the next section.
How can self-deprecation become a significant asset to success?
Success is the most desirable aspect of life. In many ways, its nature is the exact opposite of self-deprecation. It isn’t possible to have self-deprecation and attain success in life.
Or is it?
It is important to consider the other side of self-deprecation that might have something to do with success. Self-deprecation is a significant aspect of success when we understand and utilize it better.
Self-deprecation is a tool, that can either help us or sabotage us depending on our outlook towards it. The midnight starry sky is beautiful enough to bring out a poet in us, yet not many people are fortunate to see it with poetic eyes.
So, here are 5 strong and convincing ways self-deprecation can become a significant asset to success.
1. Self-deprecation helps us understand our limitations:
Understanding our limitations is important considering the idealistic nature of humanity that never ceases to hope for the better. It is when a person identifies his limitations that he becomes aware of what he can do and what he can’t.
Now, we can attain success by either focusing only on our strengths or understanding our limitations and ourselves very well. The latter is an indirect approach toward getting better in life. Early knowledge of limitations helps us focus on things that are important to us and would help us attain success.
However, there is a difference between knowing your limitations and understanding them. One doesn’t simply know them and think of attaining success. Understanding is equally essential.
2. Self-deprecation makes us more humble and mature:
Humbleness and maturity are some of the only traits that can help us achieve great amounts of success. No wonder many people value and respect humble and mature people in society.
Self-deprecation has many layers to it. When a person knows about himself and the things that affect him on a mental and emotional level, he turns out to be mature and humble with things that come across his life.
Many successful people are quite humble and mature which is the result of the self-deprecation they experienced earlier in life. It helped them to make wise and good decisions.
3. Self-deprecation makes us dissatisfied with our situations:
Even the most brilliant ones of the pack suffer from self-deprecation and inferiority complex. The role of having dissatisfaction and uneasiness with our situations is a significant one and helps us bring changes to them.
Dissatisfaction with our situations is a symptom of self-deprecation. Hence, even if we are successful, we are never satisfied with it and try to bring a revolution to our lives.
It makes things much easier to understand when we want to discover everything that we can do. Fortunately, self-deprecation helps us in our cause.
4. Self-deprecation imparts great self-deprecative humor to amuse people:
I don’t think most people out there with self-deprecation would resonate with it but it imparts great self-deprecative humor that can amuse people at its best. You don’t have to be a great person with a stoic attitude all the time.
People love the funny ones and like the others who are comical. Although no one would resonate with the pain of a self-deprecative person yet he can bring a smile to the ones who aren’t easy to amuse.
Moreover, we can also become great stand-up comedians if we use our self-deprecation wisely.
5. Lastly, self-deprecation is a road to introspection and self-awareness:
Finally, we come to its most important role, i.e., introspection and self-awareness. The prime role of self-deprecation is to make us know who we are and what is our purpose.
It helps find out whether we are true to our goals and ambitions in life. We experience self-deprecation when we aren’t in touch with our true selves or when we lack congruency with them. However, introspection can also be dark and murky when we use it with unhealthy self-reflection and imparts an identity crisis.
We must be careful with how we approach our goals and what matters to us in the long run. Self-deprecation helps us realize it.
Final Words:
To sum up, self-deprecation has many drawbacks. However, it can also help us attain success if we use it wisely. A lot of our efforts go towards tackling it or overcoming it but adopting it as a tool is something people don’t do.
The above ways are good enough to make self-deprecation your greatest asset and an answer to hurdles and difficulties in life.