For all the girls out there who consistently are told that their self-worth depends wholly upon their looks/ grades/ the money they make/ careers/ other people's opinions of them:Screw everybody's expectations: we're going to party in hell!
The ugliest word in the English language is "potential." Potential gets in the way of living. Potential beats you down; everything is measured against your supposed "potential." You're never good enough because you haven't worked to your potential, haven't reached your potential, or otherwise haven't managed to fulfill somebody else's dreams for you. You know what? Everybody can go worry about their own potential and leave the rest of us alone.
Soundtrack: Alanis Morisette's "Perfect" (Lyrics)
8 comments:
Great post.
Hear hear!
WADR I don't see how the reisha and seifa relate.
Of course your self worth shouldn't be a function of the items listed but that doesn't mean that one shouldn't strive to meet one's potential, whatever that might be.
Yilamdeinu morateinu
KT
Joel Rich
Iagree with Joel Rich.
The Maharal M’Prague taught:
“Man is not created in his final wholeness. Man was created to actualize his wholeness. That is the meaning of the verse ‘Man was born to toil.’ Man is born and exists for the aim of this toil, which is the actualization of his potential. He can, however, never attain the state of actualized being. He must toil forever, to actualize his wholeness. That is the essence of his final wholeness. Even when he attains a certain level of actualization, he still remains potential, and will forever have to go on actualizing himself,” (Tiferet Yisrael).
One's self worth only depends on one's self-perception.
Potential is something that can't adequately be gauged by outsiders. It is an internal measurement, which one must acknowledge and face.
I personally do not really know what my full potential is, despite what others may say. To me it's a constant drive to do better--to improve on something that I've done before. That's my mentality--to always aim higher--and then maybe I'll start to realize my so called "potential"
Party in hell?!?
Oh Chana, I pray not. Surely there must be a better place!
...with the God we seek, perhaps?
I think the issue is not that you shouldn't rise to your potential but rather that other people should not constantly tell you you're not rising to your potential enough to their liking.
I'll just re-post my quote from a previous comment...
"Because…when we think about ourselves, when we try to know ourselves, … we use the knowledge of us which other people already have. We judge ourselves with the means other people have and have given us for judging ourselves. Into whatever I say about myself someone else’s judgment always enters. Into whatever I feel within myself someone else’s judgment enters. -- JP Sartre"
Hell IS other people...
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