2025-03-24 15:10

how-to-destroy-your-potential

Shall I call the lack of construction, as destruction? May be in a war zone, the statement stands incorrect. But, in life, if you are not actively growing, you stagnate. If you aren't actively exercising, you lose fitness. If you are not actively learning (btw, unlearning something is also learning), you become a dumb fuck in no time.

The word "potential", comes from the word "potent", meaning - being able. So when you do not do what you are capable of doing, you destroy your potential. Some people are unaware of their potential. Some misuse their potential. And then there is a tribe of people, who simply do not use their potential. I feel I belong to the third category. My potential, lying dormant since so long now, that it has mummified itself. I see the bones and realise, it was there. But neither do they have a recognisable face, nor life, to spring back.

I wonder, when did they die? Did they even grow old and die? Or did I starve them do death. Starving your own potential and potentially killing them is such an underrated potential of high potential beings with low self esteem. You question yourself so much, overthink everything so much, that even the thriving potential takes a back seat.

But when did it all start? Was it because of the way social media, mis-motivated me? Was it for the way my parents never embraced my potential in the creative field, and rather perpetually craved for the missed potential I had in engineering. Was it for the negative self-talk, I would have of potentially not being enough? Was it for the potential privilege I had, to not worry about a high paying job? Why did I never ask for the things I potentially deserved? Why did I never realise my own potential and break through the obstacles?

What about the people who were inspired be me? Were they inspired by my potential or my reality? Perhaps, my potential. Reality seems potentially bleak to me. Will I disappoint them if I never reach my potential? But who decides my potential? What if I am already doing well potentially? What if I am utilising my potential to my best and self reflecting on my destroyed potential and writing this thoughtful essay on it, which potentially could break the internet, or at least make someone take time to read this till the end, and potentially make them self-reflect on their untapped potential?

References

Generated a full length article, titled "The Art of Self-Sabotage" in Claude. Here is the Link.