Therein lies the first item on the list, it is hard to express ourselves and our feelings -young people are not allowed to voice their opinions and ideas in school. How many of us had great ideas about a myriad of things- how things worked, how to solve problems, what we wanted to really learn about, how to make things better and more fun in the classroom, how to befriend anyone in the school, etc, etc. Yet there was little room for us to speak up. Sometimes it was because we should not threaten the teacher's authority and knowledge; or we shouldn't "buck the system"; or children are seen and not heard; or there just wasn't time for exploring and figuring out and having fun while we learned lest we do not finish the syllabus on time to pass the required exam.
How does that affect us now? Do we always speak up when we should or do we squash our thoughts and words before we even finish the thought because that old recording in our minds still tells us it is not safe to speak up? Or do we shrug our shoulders with that old feeling of 'what's the use saying anything'.? Passivity and apathy interfere with all of our lives.
Few of us are fully aware of how smart we really are, or are able to recognize and act on the potential we have to be brilliant. Sure, we seem to be doing well. We have good jobs, we get along in society, we have OK relationships with friends and families. Occasionally we may have the opportunity to do something outstanding that makes us feel really good about ourselves and remind us of our capabilities. But instead of holding on to the reality that we can reach much further than we are at this present moment and challenge ourselves to stretch our minds and our reach, we settle for admiring those who seem to be achieving way beyond what appeared to be their potential and silently wish that we could do the same. Lack of confidence in ourselves is made even worse by fear of trying.
