The ego can manipulate your sense of reality in so many subtle ways. For instance, it is one who is self-centered and pompous that is considered egotistical; but insecurity and low self-esteem stems from the flip side of that same nature in a person. 

Insecurity at face value is the inability to deal with, and fear of, the opinions that others may or may not have of you. However, if we look deeper than that, we see that the root of that way of thinking is believing that other people are constantly paying attention to us and wanting other people constantly to be paying attention to us. The caveat is that we want the attention to be good and to make us feel valuable because the negative feedback makes us feel icky.

It is important to reflect on whether or not you lean more into a boastful narcissism or a self-deprecating narcissism, so that you can begin to rise above whichever you struggle with to get working on your duties and callings in life. Whether you struggle with pride or shame, a deconstruction of the ego is necessary to your growth of character.