Picking and choosing your battles : Lose to win

I believe we all have an instinctive defense mechanism which sets an alarm whenever we are threatened physically, mentally or emotionally. And this defense sometimes come in the form of anger being a quick initial reaction, even up to a point of violent outbursts in certain off-guard situations. However, as we grow into maturity of mind and heart and have allowed ourselves to grow spiritually as well, we come to learn to let go of certain things, including picking our fights and choosing our battles. There will come a time in our lives when we value our time, energy and relationships more than our pride, hunger to win & the external validation of being right. And in fact, this can be very liberating. We might choose to let go and lose certain fights throughout our lifetime but if such losses can be our trade-off in reaping the victory to live a more peaceful, fulfilling & happy life, then by all means, why not lose to win?