This was written for someone specific

This was an email I sent to someone who I would like to have as a friend at least I hope a new friend, but I wanted to cross post it here for me to be able to look back on at it, see if I change my view on this as I grow and evolve as the new person I am trying to become.

Pride is not a bad thing. It's when it goes unchecked that it turns into a negative. I feel like pride and humility are not opposites of each other they are compliments to each other. Take my man LeBron James.....he is a proud man, and he has every right to be, he's 24 and look at how much he has accomplished. The key is, he also admits he's not perfect, and he has alot to learn and improve on. He also doesn't take all the credit, he is constantly saying that basketball is a just a talent God gave him, he is just using every opportunity he gets to further himself with that talent. So take the compliments...you deserve them, and just a thank you is enough.
I think this is an issue that comes from being overweight. We are used to putting our heads down, and doing the sort of "Aw shucks" kind of move. I know for myself, I have been overweight all my life and I always assumed that when people said nice things to me it was not genuine, it was more of them trying to be nice and make me feel good. In the end all it did was make me feel like more of a failure. But thanks to my therapist I now take pride in those things which I have worked so very hard for. I am good at my job, really good at it. I don't think it is unhumble (is that a word?) to say that. I have also learned to take pride in how I look. All my life I have gotten compliments on my hair, always thought it was just the only thing people could remotely find to compliment me on. But ya know what, I was wrong. I have great hair. Its thick, just the right amount of natural curl/wave, and a beautiful auburn color. Woman pay all kind of money to get their hair colored like this. And my eyes match, really they are sort of the same color as my hair, and they have a nice sparkle. So know when people compliment me, I take it, I don't question it, and I no longer contradict them, or put my slelf down.
You know what else I have pride in, and so should you...I am a good person. I am genuine and have a good heart. I do my best to never intentionally hurt anyone, and I try to never put anyone down or hate on them. I wasn't always like this. I used to be a very nasty person, but I have worked hard, said alot of "I'm sorry's" and asked for a whole lot of forgiveness to get to here. I've heard you talk about being divorced twice, and from the way you talked it seems like you are very humbled by that experience....but you need to take pride in the fact that you came through that a better person, you didn't let it make you bitter or hate on woman.