Comments on: Don’t Fall In Love With Potential http://www.sufferableass.com/2006/02/22/dont-fall-in-love-with-potential/ Quietly, lovingly, judging you Mon, 13 Aug 2007 10:22:27 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: The Ass http://www.sufferableass.com/2006/02/22/dont-fall-in-love-with-potential/comment-page-1/#comment-20 The Ass Thu, 15 Jun 2006 23:10:19 +0000 http://www.sufferableass.com/?p=26#comment-20 <blockquote>They’ve got so much potential they can’t imagine that simply finishing — competently, appropriately, finally — is enough.</blockquote> Or, at least, CAN be enough. Yes--yes--YES! Preach it, sister!

They’ve got so much potential they can’t imagine that simply finishing — competently, appropriately, finally — is enough.

Or, at least, CAN be enough. Yes—yes—YES! Preach it, sister!

]]> By: Zoe http://www.sufferableass.com/2006/02/22/dont-fall-in-love-with-potential/comment-page-1/#comment-19 Zoe Thu, 15 Jun 2006 22:06:04 +0000 http://www.sufferableass.com/?p=26#comment-19 If, as Linus Pauling said,"Ideas are the shit of creative brains, shed continuously by all creative people," "potential" has to be the curse of anyone able to cope with institutional education with a better-than-B average!!! Parents, teachers, advisors, mentors, bosses all gazing at you with disappointment when you fail to buy-in to whatever the challenge du jour may be with "But you have so much potential! I know you can do this!" Well, yes. But why would I **want** to do whatever ... take the sucky litcrit course, work on the doomed-from-the-start project, give up a rare free weekend to "volunteer" for some event for a cause I don't care about, attend a social function with people who can't carry a conversation ... Ah, the lifetime of guilt trips inflicted by people who expect you to deploy YOUR potential in aid of their agendas! And the friends who can't manage to finish their dissertations, novels, remodeling, whatever because they're paralyzed with fear-of-failing-to-be-fabulous-beyond-belief. They've got so much potential they can't imagine that simply finishing -- competently, appropriately, finally -- is enough. Suddenly I recall a scene in "Pride & Prejudice" when Mr. Darcy's insufferable aunt announces that if she had ever learned to play the piano, of course she would be flawless. Me, I'm working on finishing my backlog of projects a little bit every day. I'll be damned if I leave a closetful of quilts-in-progress or a file drawer full of outlines or text snippets! :) If, as Linus Pauling said,”Ideas are the shit of creative brains, shed continuously by all creative people,” “potential” has to be the curse of anyone able to cope with institutional education with a better-than-B average!!! Parents, teachers, advisors, mentors, bosses all gazing at you with disappointment when you fail to buy-in to whatever the challenge du jour may be with “But you have so much potential! I know you can do this!”

Well, yes. But why would I want to do whatever … take the sucky litcrit course, work on the doomed-from-the-start project, give up a rare free weekend to “volunteer” for some event for a cause I don’t care about, attend a social function with people who can’t carry a conversation … Ah, the lifetime of guilt trips inflicted by people who expect you to deploy YOUR potential in aid of their agendas!

And the friends who can’t manage to finish their dissertations, novels, remodeling, whatever because they’re paralyzed with fear-of-failing-to-be-fabulous-beyond-belief. They’ve got so much potential they can’t imagine that simply finishing—competently, appropriately, finally—is enough.

Suddenly I recall a scene in “Pride & Prejudice” when Mr. Darcy’s insufferable aunt announces that if she had ever learned to play the piano, of course she would be flawless.

Me, I’m working on finishing my backlog of projects a little bit every day. I’ll be damned if I leave a closetful of quilts-in-progress or a file drawer full of outlines or text snippets!

:)

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