I don’t know, but one thing that held me for a while is the thought that even if you’ve failed, once or many times, you’re still a human being in possession of a life, and that makes you valuable.
Think of a human being. Now think of a rock. You’re a lot cooler than the rock. You’re alive and sentient and capable of choice and that makes you, as a matter of plain fact, pretty damn wonderful. (Never mind that you, CronoDAS, are very obviously insightful and interesting.) Now once you recognize that you’re already pretty damn wonderful, you can start thinking about the optimal way to cope with your setback.
It’s disappointing (God knows I worry about my failures) but if you take a step WAY back and think about the fact that you’re a living human being, and you can’t ever be worthless no matter what, it takes away some of the fear.
Think of a human being. Now think of a rock. You’re a lot cooler than the rock. You’re alive and sentient and capable of choice and that makes you, as a matter of plain fact, pretty damn wonderful. (Never mind that you, CronoDAS, are very obviously insightful and interesting.) Now once you recognize that you’re already pretty damn wonderful, you can start thinking about the optimal way to cope with your setback.
Playing devil’s advocate for a while, rocks also tend to cause a lot less damage than people. Rocks don’t pollute, eat meat, receive a government subsidized education, contribute to traffic congestion, or other things. On a purely economic level, at least, so far I’ve made the world slightly poorer rather than richer; if I were a business, I’d be one that has gone through quite a lot of start-up capital and hasn’t become profitable yet.
That’s also how I think about myself. It’s not a complete answer. It just sometimes puts into perspective why I (and you, and everyone) might deserve to stick around even if we’ve made some mistakes. Might even deserve to be happy with ourselves. Somehow I want that to be true and I think it probably is true. It’s better than thinking of yourself as an overgrown tapeworm.
Well, I wasn’t expecting to be the one to get the job, I’m just annoyed that I washed out earlier than I expected. (Last time, I made it past the multiple choice exam.)
So I’ll just have to invoke Sour Grapes here; it doesn’t matter that I failed at this point rather than later, because I probably would have failed anyway (but it was still worth the attempt, though).
I don’t know, but one thing that held me for a while is the thought that even if you’ve failed, once or many times, you’re still a human being in possession of a life, and that makes you valuable.
Think of a human being. Now think of a rock. You’re a lot cooler than the rock. You’re alive and sentient and capable of choice and that makes you, as a matter of plain fact, pretty damn wonderful. (Never mind that you, CronoDAS, are very obviously insightful and interesting.) Now once you recognize that you’re already pretty damn wonderful, you can start thinking about the optimal way to cope with your setback.
It’s disappointing (God knows I worry about my failures) but if you take a step WAY back and think about the fact that you’re a living human being, and you can’t ever be worthless no matter what, it takes away some of the fear.
Playing devil’s advocate for a while, rocks also tend to cause a lot less damage than people. Rocks don’t pollute, eat meat, receive a government subsidized education, contribute to traffic congestion, or other things. On a purely economic level, at least, so far I’ve made the world slightly poorer rather than richer; if I were a business, I’d be one that has gone through quite a lot of start-up capital and hasn’t become profitable yet.
This is true.
That’s also how I think about myself. It’s not a complete answer. It just sometimes puts into perspective why I (and you, and everyone) might deserve to stick around even if we’ve made some mistakes. Might even deserve to be happy with ourselves. Somehow I want that to be true and I think it probably is true. It’s better than thinking of yourself as an overgrown tapeworm.
Yeah, I’d rather be a pet hamster than a tapeworm. ;)
Well, I wasn’t expecting to be the one to get the job, I’m just annoyed that I washed out earlier than I expected. (Last time, I made it past the multiple choice exam.)
So I’ll just have to invoke Sour Grapes here; it doesn’t matter that I failed at this point rather than later, because I probably would have failed anyway (but it was still worth the attempt, though).