The Hurdle of Being an Ordinary Person
It’s a generally accepted notion that every single person in this world has a thing. That one talent that comes easily to them that they just have a knack for.
Whether it be out of comfort, idealism, or hopefully realism, most people believe this to be an inherent skill that can be brought out to the person’s consciousness through experience and exposure to different things. But, there is a sad flipside to this as well.
What if someone cannot find that thing? To specify further, What if we do not have a skill in an area where we desperately wish we did?
A painful fact of existence is that quite often our passions do not tend to coincide with things that we are naturally good at. In every field or walk of life, there is often a limit to how good someone can get at something no matter how hard they work if they don’t have a natural aptitude for it.
This is more true than ever when it comes to sports where the distinction between prodigies who were born for this, and everyone else is so clear. Exceptional work ethic is a gift in and of itself, But sometimes it is not enough for one’s goals.
Now, don’t get me wrong. There are countless professional athletes who are ordinary — for lack of a better term — and through intelligence, graft, and help, go on to be terrific in their respective sports and have an extremely successful career. It’s not that these individuals don’t have talent. But if these people have the loftiest of ambitions, for instance, to be the best, or to be better than someone who has that gift, they are destined to be disappointed.
This is true for all of us, regardless of the fields we are passionate about, we are all submitted to this fatality, whether we accept it or not. And of course, most of us will resent the unfairness of it all.
Why should some people be granted a talent in a field where you wish to be the best at? When you’ve worked so hard for it, and you can never reach their peak.
I’m not saying that gifted people don’t work hard at all, they probably work in a similar intensity as you, but given this intensity, they were destined to surpass you. Because their gift lets them have a better understanding of their field, and thus learn and get experience more efficiently than ordinary people would. And that is the fine line that separates the elite from the aspiring.
Coming to this realization would undoubtedly make one depressed and unmotivated to pursue his passion, knowing that life just didn’t give him what it takes, knowing that he was born into this world, ordinary.
This hurdle that takes place when you realize that your abilities are unfairly inferior to your ambitions, is more of a tricky one because it only manifests itself in the things we are most passionate about. So when it comes down to this, it is really hard to work for your passion, because it will always remain out of your reach.
It is unfair that life established this twisted categorization, making extraordinary people reach for their heights and go even further and making ordinary people look upon them with envy and admiration for their abilities. So, does it mean that ungifted people are bound to forswear their passion, and resign to the fact that it is impossible?
Before I answer this question, I think that above all, people should really question themselves, have they actually found the limits of their abilities?
People who are naturally better than you, have been different from you since the day you were born. No matter how hard you work, you can’t change that, you can complain after you’ve done everything that you possibly can, rather than despairing and giving up because you’re not a genius. Believe that this isn’t the limit of your strength and continue on the path straight ahead of you, it may be a harsh road, but it is where the meaning of all this lies.
Being ordinary and aspiring to be a prodigy, only makes you go further because you have a goal you want to reach, you may never reach it, but that’s what makes it worthwhile, and that’s why you got passionate from the start.
Extraordinary people need ordinary people to pursue them, they need to be challenged and live in constant fear of the possibility that they would be surpassed someday, this is the motivation that keeps them going, and by doing so, they create more opportunities for the ordinary.
Interestingly enough, this means that life isn’t unfair in the way we think it is, but rather this categorization only exists to maintain evolution and progress and make us more passionate in the process.
Many thanks for reading.
Bonus! Check out this awesome article: Best Ways To Find And Develop Your Hidden Talent
