Did anyone think you were destined to do something special?

What exactly are you trying to accomplish?

Destined?...well…we write our own destinies. Nobody ever said it was going to be easy and others traveling the same path could have had it easier or harder.

Just me. :)

If by “special” you mean unique and something ONLY you can do in your own way, then sure – only you can be you with your unique combination of experiences, potential abilities and skills.

I personally don’t believe it is helpful or productive to think in terms of contemporary tropes of language e.g. having people (especially kids) think they’re “special” in the sense of being outstanding or gifted or necessarily better than someone else. I believe we’re all distinctive in our uniqueness and we can all bring something to this game of life, but to call it “special” implies that others aren’t and that seems a fallacy to me… just my $0.02

I wouldn’t call it “special”, but there are things that I have yet to do that are unique to me. But it’s not about me anyway. It’s about God.

I might be interpreting your question wrong but I used to think that I could do anything I set my mind to- an ideal that my parents pushed heavily on me. I’m not saying that this is a bad thing, it is good encouragement and you can do a lot of things you set your mind to in spite of circumstances playing against you. For example my rowing crew won a race where we were against girls twice our size and who had better equipment and maybe more training, so if mindset never came into it and it was just a matter of muscle we should have come last, but we actually won. We had more to prove and I guess we wanted it more. However, I have realised that this is not always the case. I am realising that there are limits to what I can accomplish, as you say. I never grew out of wanting to be an astronaut, and I started studying aerospace engineering this year as a pathway to get there. My parents never doubted this was possible. However, with the lack of space program in Australia, the NASA shuttle program ending and funding being cut, and considering how hard it was before the number of astronauts got cut and how difficult university is turning out to be, my future looks rather bleak.

My mother. She thought everything I ever did was special! I miss her. I don’t think anyone else has ever had that much pride or faith in me!

I think she would be pleased with how I have turned out and what I have done with my life!

My son was born a Golden Child. We knew it, when he took his first breath.

Our beliefs came true and he has not let us down. I expect him to be at least vice-president of the U.S. someday.

Everyone has their place in the tribe, as it were. Therefore everyone is special in their own right.

My dad made me believe I was going to change the world. At 50, I’m still working on it. I’m thinking it’s supposed to be one grandkid at a time. :-)

I think everyone does something special within their lifetime.

I also think everyone has a purpose, although some may not find their purpose.

As a kid I liked to dream about that. Now I just want to pass somewhat unnoticed.

Sure.

No one is terribly impressed with how big an under-achiever I’ve become.

Yeah. My father thought I should be a genius and kept on telling me that often as an object lesson in making it clear I was anything but a genius. That fucked me up for a lot of years. Even if I won the Nobel Peace Prize, I don’t think he would have been satisfied. After all, he was always disappointed with himself that he didn’t will the Nobel prize for physics.

Part of our maturity is accepting limitations and being comfortable in who and what we are.

Letting go of any grandiosity and utilizing our ‘special’ gifts, strengths in whatever ways we are able.

Mine is humor, and my cheerful and playful personality.

“Little Miss Sunshine” is content to spread around good cheer and good humor and I believe this is my ‘purpose.’

I am a frequency holder of good cheer and humorous verbosity.

Hardly a day goes by that someone doesn’t tell me I “made their day.”

That’s plenty good enough for me, although I still aspire to have some of my writing published one day. :-D

Yes. All of my teachers expect me to get distinctions in there subjects.Even the chemistry one and I’m like sir I’ll be lucky if i can get an A in Chemistry and then he gives me this horrible stare.

@fish4answers “I’m just realizing I have limits to what I can accomplish.”

That’s a sign of maturing. Realism is a very unique quality. One could say it makes you special.

I personally consider it special, but the world wouldn’t. My goal is to become a high school history teacher. With my personality, charisma, and intelligence, I want to make history more engaging and interesting to students. I want to have them enjoy coming to class and gaining from my course!

Yes. Well, kind of. Some of my teachers told me variations of that. And of course my parents have told me some variation of that.

Society sets us up for a fall from a very early age. I can still remember the nursery school song “I am special. I am special. Look at me, look at me”. Our parents remind us how unique and special we are, “there’s nobody like you! you can do it!” From that point on we see movies and imagine ourselves as the hero who saves the world. We’re inundated with celebrity lifestyles to tempt our fancy and subconsciously build a sense of self entitlement. Even as adults we are constantly bombarded with robot phone solicitors telling us we’ve “won” something and commercials that remind us how much “you deserve” this or that. How do they know what I “deserve”?

Culture is not our friend.

@RealEyesRealizeRealLifes

I don’t know if it’s completely society’s fault though. I know it plays a part. However, even kids from broken homes, where they don’t receive any praise or encouragement, grow up playing games where they are the hero and are trying to save the world. I think it might be part of being human.

Most children will play that role in their mind when alone. But when playing with others, an alpha arises and lower roles form accordingly. In real life, we soon learn that we all can’t be heros (in the traditional sense). The fantasy is perpetuated by culture.

Touche! But the desire is still there!!!

I have met so many people in my lifetime that have told me I was destined to take care of people, in one way or another.

I see why they might think that. I also see that following that path has ultimately destroyed a big part of me.

I conquer with @rooeytoo , my mother is destined for me to…pretty much change the world.

No, but I am still trying hard to do something really astounding. In my dreams I do. But self confidence sometimes limits what is possible. Many thought that I would be special in a way that would benefit their egos, they were never really concerned about my happiness. I used that knowledge to be far more generous to my children’s aspirations and support them no matter to what they aspire. It creates happiness in my life, so that is special.

No, they thought I was destined to die young, by misadventure but it didn’t happen. Not necessarily to late to die by misadventure but much too late to die young.

I am most definitely destined to do something phenomenal.. not entirely sure what exactly, but I will get there :P I think having a positive influence and setting good examples to those around me could be something.

Thanks everyone for your POV :-)

No, I never did. :-)