Archive · 31 Oct 2025
Javed Akhtar on Pride in Failure and Self-Limiting Narratives
Imagine you fell off your bike and got a scrape.
It's okay to remember it happened, but it's not good to keep showing off your scrape and saying 'Look how much I suffered!'
Everyone has scrapes sometimes.
Javed Akhtar, a famous writer, says we shouldn't brag about our failures or pain because many people go through similar things.
It's like wearing your pain as a medal.
A therapist agrees that remembering hard times can help us survive, but if we only focus on our struggles, we might stop growing.
Real growth happens when we learn from what happened without letting it be the only thing that makes us who we are.
It's better to learn and be confident, rather than always acting like a victim because of past hurts.
Javed Akhtar advises against taking pride in failures, comparing it to wearing one's wounds as medals.
He suggests that failures and hardships are common experiences, not unique reasons for excessive pride.
An existential psychotherapist explains that while acknowledging past pain can be empowering, it can become self-limiting if it defines one's identity.
Taking pride in failures can lead to stagnation, victimhood, and a lack of accountability.
Healthy self-acceptance involves learning from experiences without letting them define one's present or future self.
- Who
- Javed Akhtar, veteran writer and lyricist, and Gurleen Baruah, existential psychotherapist
- What
- Discussion on the nature of taking pride in failures and its potential to hinder personal growth.
- When
- Recently, during an interview with Lallantop and a subsequent discussion with indianexpress.com.
- Where
- Implied to be in India, given the publication and context.
- Why
- To explore the psychological implications of framing past failures as medals of honor.
Viewing Failure as an Empowering Identity
Viewing Failure as a Limiting Identity
The Role of Pride in Past Hardships
Viewing Failure as an Empowering Identity
Holding on to failure with pride can be a way to make sense of pain, protect dignity, and serve as a story of survival, which can be empowering and grounding.
Viewing Failure as a Limiting Identity
Pride in failures can harden into identity, leading to stagnation and preventing growth beyond past struggles, thus becoming self-limiting.
Consequences of Focusing on Past Struggles
Viewing Failure as an Empowering Identity
Acknowledging and learning from difficult experiences allows for growth and confidence.
Viewing Failure as a Limiting Identity
An overemphasis on past hardships can manifest as victimhood, expecting special treatment, and a failure-based avoidance of responsibility, hindering growth.
- Javed Akhtar's Stance
- Do not take pride in failures, as they are common human experiences.
- Expert Opinion
- Pride in failure can be empowering but may become self-limiting if it defines one's identity.
- Detrimental Pride
- Can lead to stagnation, victimhood, and avoidance of accountability.
- Healthy Self-Acceptance
- Involves learning and confidence without needing to constantly recount past hardships.