I'm suddenly in a position that makes me ask about "Is it ego or just self-defense?" Then I try to find the answer.
First, let's just think deeper about the main situation. Am I in the situation that I need to prove myself, or am I just trying to set the exact boundaries? The more I think about it, the more I understand the difference between those two things. Ego and self-defense can be the source of misunderstanding in certain situations.
Ego refers to our sense of self-importance, identity, or kind of 'self-worth' things. It could be the part of ourselves that seeks validation and recognition. Our behaviors that are driven by ego often come from pride, insecurity, and desire to elevate our self-image.
On the other side, self-defense is more like an action to protect ourselves either physically or emotionally from external harm or threats. Actions that we do as self-defense are driven by our need for safety, justice, or maintaining the boundaries.
But we can't deny that those two things can be blurred sometimes. Ego could be disguised as self-defense, and self-defense could be mistaken as ego. At this kind of intersection, we need to look at the main focus of the situation. Ego focus on self-image, pride, and validation. Meanwhile, self-defense focuses on safety, boundaries, and fairness.
A lot of things in our surroundings could be examples of ego and self-defense, but I won't mention them here since all of us need to get used to identifying those kinds of behaviors so we can take the proper action to face and handle them. Just take a look to your left and right, then find which situation that happened under ego and self-defense!