Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Thursday, August 19. 2010

You can be anything you want

No, you can not. Everybody has his personal limits; limits in talent, limits in intelligence, limits in endurance and perseverence, limits in initiative, limits in social skills, limits of personality style, limits in stress-tolerance, limits in judgement-making, etc, etc.


When people push against their limits, it is admirable. When they go past them, it is usually sadly obvious because, without great luck, defeat and failure are almost certain. Life and reality are stern schoolmasters.


I am a believer in rigorously honest self-appraisal as well as a "seaching, fearless moral inventory." These things are narcissistically injuring - but liberating. Furthermore, they can help us steer our ship and avoid the rocks.

Posted by Dr. Joy Bliss in Psychology, and Dr. Bliss at 13:39 | Comments (11) | Trackbacks (0)

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But....but.....but... your belief is so limiting! So anathemetic (how's THAT for inventing a new word? Just don't refudiate it. heh.) to current culture. So against whatever the current public school indoctrination of the day is this week. So, so, so WRONG. For the kids have said anybody can be president, a brain surgeon, an astronaut. All you have to do is dream big and it will happen! Ability? Pshaw! Learning? not required. Education? Found on the internet. No need to excel, or to even have effort. Just wish it, and it will be true. And if it is not? Well, that is for the courts to decide.......
#1 JoeC on 2010-08-19 13:59 (Reply)
Does everyone have limits? Perhaps so, but it is up to the individual to discover those limits, it is not for others to impose them.
#2 feeblemind on 2010-08-19 15:10 (Reply)
I discovered in grade school that I could not be much of a kickball player. I discovered in high school that I could not be much of a tennis player. I discovered in the Air Force that I could be very good at my job and find great joy in it. So far I haven't found that I can be a successful novelist and give up my day job, nor a successful comedian, nor a kept man/trophy husband, but then my sweetheart would be mad if I tried those two jobs.
#3 Geoff Brown on 2010-08-19 16:18 (Reply)
Guess Obamination went past his personal limits which is why he is impotent as a President. That sure explains a lot.
#4 Cilla Mitchell, Galveston Texas (Link) on 2010-08-19 16:39 (Reply)
Whenever I see this particular concept about limitations, I honestly see red.

There aren't any limits to what one can do given time and effort. I'd love to be an astronaut and from an academic and scientific standpoint, I'd be ideal, but age and infirmity limits me. However if NASA ever got off it's high horse and developed low thrust, high capacity lifters (or a space elevator) then I could be.

The way I look at it, I'm limited by the lack of technology to get me where I want to go, not that I can't.

I was considered a idiot savant when younger because of my inability to properly see letters and arrange them in context limiting my ability to read but I could deal with numbers just fine. It took a sympathetic 3rd grade special education teacher who had just returned from a seminar to discover what the problem was and begin working to correct it. Three university degrees later I'm not exaclty an idiot.

I don't want to be a novelist, didn't want to be a pro football player but I could have been if I had chosen to do so.

And finally, inarguable proof that nothing limits you but yourself.

http://www.masscops.com/f13/handicap-overcome-he-makes-his-goal-58158/

I taught him that. :>)
#5 Tom Francis on 2010-08-19 16:53 (Reply)
of course time and effort are both limited to us humans
#5.1 lenf on 2010-08-19 20:34 (Reply)
Dr. Joy,
I enjoy reading your posts as I am studying for a counseling degree, career counseling in particular. Would you care to tailor this message to my career counseling class?....I tend toward optimism, but I'd be happy to pass along your realistic message.
I truly do appreciate the honest of your posts though
LP
#6 LP on 2010-08-19 19:06 (Reply)
There are important life lessons in those rocks. The rocks will find us no matter how well we navigate our ship
#7 jappy on 2010-08-19 20:04 (Reply)
There is a Rorschach scoring ratio (W:M) that is associated with individuals whose aspirations tend to exceed their mental resources. It can be be very problematic when a person is chronically unrealistic about their own capabilities. True, failure can be a great teacher, but these individuals do not learn from failure.
#8 Dr X (Link) on 2010-08-19 23:33 (Reply)
Man's got to know his limitations:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2JnCXvm_Qc
#9 g6loq on 2010-08-20 08:26 (Reply)
Until you try, how do you know when you are pushing limits and when you are past your limits? We told our son with low IQ and motor skill problems that he could do anything if he worked hard, harder than others his age. He has done amazing things and is well on his way to being a productive citizen at age 21. Along the way, there were many times that I thought he was past his limits, but he proved me wrong.
#10 Earth Girl (Link) on 2010-08-20 10:17 (Reply)

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