All work and no play…
J: Well that’s not entirely true. I suppose there’s some play here and there… but there always seems to be a lot of work! I hate that I’ve gone this long without writing something on this blog… That makes me sad and a little guilty. So let’s talk about just that in fact. Let’s talk about time management, and self-actualization. The word of the day is potential. A type of authenticity if you want to call it that. Why do so many people either coast through life and end up just dying at some point… the end… and others plug away their whole lives and seemingly get nowhere? Of course there are many people that make great changes, there are many who realize their potential, there are many who live happy fulfilling lives and you never hear a word about them, but there are also so many people who never quite “get it”. People who strive towards something, and just can’t ever quite attain it for some reason or another. I’ve been feeling a strain lately that I find interesting, but also a little unnerving. I consider myself blessed to be talented and capable. Sometimes though, it’s a curse and not always a blessing. I get jittery… anxious within my own potential. I have this strange sense that I’m doing well, and I love my job, but I could somehow be contributing more… Maybe in a small scale, perhaps a large one. It’s kind of an existential battle, but I think it’s something worth mentioning, because I think there are a lot of people that need to consider it!
What do we do? How do we, humans… creations of seemingly limitless potential… live up to that higher pull we feel? How do we realize our… you guessed it… “Potential”. I always used to hate that word “POTENTIAL”… it was like a verbal slap in the face. When I was growing up through my school years, I had so many well-meaning (and some notsomuch) teachers that would get frustrated with my inability to focus, sit still, not be bored to tears, etc… And come parent-teacher conference time, it was always “He’s got so much potential. If he could just _________.” I know so many people whom I’m sure have heard the same story in their youth, and perhaps are hearing it even now. But untapped potential is just devastating to me… It’s like some kind of prophecy that never gets fulfilled. “She could do great things!” But somehow she misses the mark and does nothing. I mean how sad is that? What if we don’t really know what our potential is? It’s like dropping a bomb on an enemy and never deploying the explosive mechanism… “Oh ya that bomb could easily wipe out that whole batallion! We just didn’t rig it to actually explode. It’s just a potential explosion…” I think our potentials, while stored in self, can be unlocked by others… I think that’s what needs to happen.
See! This isn’t all just me trying to vent or relive my youth… I have an actual point in this. I urge people to attempt to unlock the potential of others. I’ve found that when you help others realize their dreams, yours start to manifest as well. I guess what my question begs to know is how do we help one another realize ourselves. Not “how do we use other people to get what we want?”, but honestly… how can we encourage the realization of potential in others and simultaneously assist ourselves in realizing our own potential? I think the word that needs to be applied to potential, is DIRECTION.
I know a lot of talented people. I don’t know if it’s a result of seeking out those that remind me of myself (i realize my confidence is coming on pretty heavy right now), or if it can all be attributed to some cosmic draw. Some morphogenetic magnetism that draws “us” together. I always talk about finding ‘the others’, and I definitely think that has something to do with it. I have an encouragement though. A challenge. A desire. I want for people who find themselves in the same groups, people who find themselves tied by interests, desires, life-goals, etc. to sharpen each other. As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. Proverbs something.
I think we need to start the friction that’s going to make something super-sharp. People need people. That’s a fact, but rather than butting heads or competing, I think we need to lay down our egos and work in conjunction to really make some undeniable change. Who’s with me? Who will sharpen me? Who can I sharpen? How can we move in a direction that will ultimately lead in the realization of our potentials? COME ON! Someone! Anyone? Bueller?
so true. powerful topic.
I’ve come to the terrifying realization (for myself and I think it may be applicable to others) that given talent / potential / capabilities / and great heart, the only choice is ‘onward.’ We haven’t sold our dreams and ideas yet for a smaller life…perhaps we are smart, perhaps we are very foolish and the joke is on us. There isn’t much idle play allotted for us and ‘the others’, I think that is our charge. I’m not romanticizing this, it’s a real fucking anvil on your body, a torturous force, to just sit back for too long…weeks…months…years. And the longer you sit, as long as you’re still in touch with your heart…the pain will grow I think. For example, to be 35 and not attained whatever is in your heart, at least you can still console yourself and say ‘oh, I’ve got time left, I can still do this.’ For me, to be saying the same thing at 75 would be like I had already died in my own body, but that’s me. I’d probably have wonderful children and friends who I had touched with my life and who had deeply enriched mine…and perhaps that’s all that is ever asked of us. We speak all the time of the importance and ripple-effect of every subtle genuine interaction of ours. Perhaps this is all, perhaps this is enough. Enough. What a great word…
These may be our ‘call to action years’ but these may also be the years which we just build up our reservoirs of experience and thought which we can build on for something which is to come in our later years. Take writers for instance, I’ve often heard not to try and write a book until your at least 40. Now, I think this is bullshit, but I also see the wisdom in it…in not trying to prematurely give birth to something and miss those experience enriching years.
I too, can feel the burning drive that says “onward” and am at a loss sometimes as I stand at the crossroads of tempering it or calling upon it for intense productivity. I think so few people are really alive to that fiery feeling that it is upon those who feel it to try and be productive, but that right there is my personal philosophy which I don’t attempt to place on others. Basically, if you feel you ‘gotta do it’ and you haven’t a real choice in the matter, then by god let’s get going!