Why You Are Defective
I know a secret about you.
You are defective.
The real you is not lovable.
OK, now I have a question.
Did that statement feel false? Did you feel like this doesn't apply to you? Are you only insulted that I just wasted your time?
Or did you sink a little? Maybe you feel sad, maybe angry, and probably you feel both to some degree.
Now to be honest. I'm not trolling you. And, you're not defective. Personally, and if I'm being rational about this, I don't think such a thing as a defective person really exists.
Why would I lie up front?
Because I wanted to mess with your head.
What's wrong with me?
Because, if you're someone who feels this way, deep down, then I needed you to face it.
Feeling defective is, ironically, something almost everyone feels.
Those who deal with this 'feeling' head on, and take action, are the ones everyone else looks up to. They're the ones who provoke thoughts like:
People love that guy.
He's great.
He's successful.
Fundamentally, I'm not like him.
Listening to his success makes me feel bad about myself because I know that'll never be me because it never has been.
I know it won't happen because I'm defective.
The problem with this inner dialogue is that we KNOW it's not true. How many of these "successful people that you can never be" have rags to riches stories? How many of them talk about battling addiction, trauma, tragedy and failure?
Not some of them. All of them. Right?
The next step then, at least for me, became: "My tragedies aren't tragic enough. If only life had kicked me a little harder, I would have felt that necessary extra dose of pain and shame. Then, I would have had what I needed to change. To be better. To really earn love. It hurt, it just didn't hurt enough. Because I'm THAT defective."
When does it end?
Here's another secret. Silly as it might sound, we're going to debunk a concept that hides deep in most people's minds.
Ready?
It isn't repeated failure that brings success. It's losing the fear of failure.
When you fail hard enough, the fear of failure is gone. You're already experiencing it! You only fear bad things when they're not happening.
Failure often appears to rocket people into success. That's because we tend to see someone fall before they rise.
The truth is their greatest fear was realized. And as bad as it was, and it was really bad, still wasn't as terrible as what their mind made it out to be. It didn't end them. It taught them.
As bad as it was, it's just not scary like it used to be.
Now, nothing is scary enough to stop you.
There are people who love you because you are lovable.
When you put yourself out there, to whatever it is that you want to accomplish, you'll often discover that more people love you than you knew.
You'll discover how defective you really are.
Very interesting and thoughtful article, many thanks for putting yourself out there!
Congratulations on being featured by @chekohler in an entry for the Pay It Forward Contest
Thank you guys for the support. This was sincere but it was very different than anything else I've put out. I was very curious about what kind of reaction it got. It's interesting to see that it's not leading in upvotes of my other posts, but it is leading in shares. Makes me think that people find it valuable.
This post really does hit home, I think we like to assume that being defective or being flawed is a problem but that's what makes us human and when we can accept our shortcomings we can find ways around it or we can teach people where we are lacking so they can understand us better
I've also picked your post as my @pifc post of the week. You can find my nomination here. Feel free to join us and check out other posts the various curators have found and support other bloggers like yourself. You can join us each week as we go looking for new authors.
Oh man, that's so cool @checkohler. Beautiful comment, thanks for the sincerity.
Glad I could hit home for you.
Your post was featured in an entry into @pifc's Curation Contest:Week 71. Posts are selected because the entrant felt you are producing great content and deserve more attention (& rewards) on your post. As such your post has been upvoted and will be visited by other members of the PIFC Community.
We are always looking for new people to join our curation efforts. This is a great way to meet new people and become part of a community that focuses on helping one another.
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Thank you so much!
Awesome post @cosimo. Very well said and thank you for adding your voice to this issue. We do need to stop thinking of ourselves as broken or defective because we are not what someone else expects. We need to stop listening to what others say about us and start being nicer to ourselves.
You were featured in week 71 of @pifc's Pay It Forward Curation Contest by @chekholer. @pifc is a Pay It Forward Community which believes in by helping others grow we build a stronger community. We run this contest each week, it is open to everyone. It's a great way to show off people you find that might need some more exposure, meet new people, and possibly win some SBI for you and your features.
Glad you enjoyed it, and thanks a lot for promoting it through your curation! Grateful, thanks again.
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