This discussion is now closed.

Check out other Related discussions

Having a Potential which is never used...

A potential skill, a talent, or a mighty will to engage in something...

Something growing deep inside, but cannot project itself onto the material world due to social norms (narrow and focused university/job choice...), social restrictions (financial hardship), geosocial limits (stereotypes, no other people with similar motivation/situation in your area), your background history (weak A-Levels; too late to start sth) or personal responsibilities (dedication towards girlfriend and friends, parents, other personal stereotypes etc.).

I'm not referring to my own, personal experience, but asking you in general whether - at an advanced age - you would be able to leave behind all those restrictions to pursue or recover something you've harbored but never allowed or found the time to blossom.
Has anyone of you done it?

One my unharnessed potentials is music. As a child I was a "talent" at kid contests, and I was also in school choirs and such things. I started playing the piano by ear and was always showered with praise for whatever I sang or played. Despite all kinds of attention, however, in my family it was something unheard of to pay for music/arts.
Today, I'm leaving school, and most of my friends have all kinds of certifications in music, have done over 10 years of conservatory or other performance arts lessons... and the only thing I know to do properly is using computer notation programmes and singing in some local choirs.
At EC level I rarely did some activities such as drama, musical, etc. but I feel that I could have done real lessons and not just going to school societies.
Maybe it's only an illusion, or a just childhood dream, a nostalgia - which seems more and more unrealistic with the kinds of restrictions I cited above...

Reply 1

mortderire

10

could u just explain to me the need you had to post anonymously? or have i not read ur post properly?

Reply 2

Anonymous #1

OP

Because (at a superficial level) I think it is or would be perceived as extremely infantile. Or very apathic.

Reply 3

toffee2

1

Why are some people OBSESSED with pointing out that someone has posted anonymously its their business not yours what they want to do, anyway what i think is that if you do have a talent in anything and you think you can make a go of it then really whats the worst that could happen, no matter what age or who you are or anything. You colud just start off small like if its music get yourself an instrument and have a practice, maybe join a group or choir again. Chances are if your really skilled in it youll get noticed quickly. If youve been thinking about this a lot as well then you do probably want to go for it as well. Sorry if thats dud advice i mihgt have just read the post wrong!

Reply 4

naivesincerity

2

I wish I'd done more with my tennis. Got serious played more and consistently and had a load of coaching and practice

Reply 5

cheesecakebobby

9

If you never do something, it makes zero sense to say you had the potential to do it. If I never win the never world cup, I never had the potential to win it. It's just meaningless guff tbh.

Reply 6

scutt

1

cheesecakebobby

If you never do something, it makes zero sense to say you had the potential to do it. If I never win the never world cup, I never had the potential to win it. It's just meaningless guff tbh.

Surely by that argument your potential is tied directly to what you achieve?

You can have the potential to do something, but not manage to. It's about having the skills that you can develop to a higher level, not about starting at the highest level.

Reply 7

sidi

1

So you've left school. Now what? If you're going to uni there will be all sorts of possibilities away from your family (not just course related things) You can get a part time job and pay for lessons. You are too young to have regrets, there is plenty of time to do anything you want. On the other hand you can come up with all sorts of reasons why things aren't possible.
I left college after one year. Didn't regret it till much later but am studing with OU now in a subject I find infinitely more fascinating.
Go for it.

Reply 8

cheesecakebobby

9

scutt

Surely by that argument your potential is tied directly to what you achieve?

You can have the potential to do something, but not manage to. It's about having the skills that you can develop to a higher level, not about starting at the highest level.

If you try and define potential you find it is meaningless. If you say it is the ability to do something, then the only way you can know to have potential is to have done that thing. Someone on their deathbed might say 'oh i could have been a ballerina' - but they weren't a ballerina, they never became a ballerina, so they should get over it, right? If you can't manage to do something, it makes no sense to say you have the capacity to do it, until it can be demonstrated. I think people apply this romantic idea of potentiality, and with it ideas of natural talent/ being born for a purpose to something far more mundane. In reality it has no elevated status to 'I have legs, therefore I have the potentiality to walk'.

Reply 9

Bubblebee

15

I'm a little like you, have a natural talent at music. But it was always my brother who got the lessons and praise and new instruments and everything and as I was younger they never noticed it. Recently I was in the garden with a friend playing about at writing songs and later they actually complimented me...

Reply 10

Onearmedbandit

17

I always thought I had a shot at being a footballer if I dedicated my life to it from an early age :p:

But I didn't want to do that.

On the other hand, I've always had a big passion for music which I engage in as much as possible in my free time.

Having a Potential which is never used...

Related discussions

Articles for you