Did you ever feel like you were destined for something great?

[NotSureToEndure]

I think I've always been a bit insecure, but I've found confidence here and there. I think deep down I always felt like I just had to bide my time and an opportunity would eventually arise, for me to reach my true potential.

Well I did feel like that, up until a few years ago where it all started to go downhill. I feel like I used to be able to tune out the doubt, but now the anxiety and issues feel Inescapable.

Heh, is this coming of age?

 

[FuneralCry]

No, not me personally. I have only been destined for a life filled with suffering. There has never been anything here for me in this world and I am simply not meant for this life. I have never had any hope for the future, I have never wanted to be alive at all.

 

[DynamicDepression]

I did, yes. When I was younger, I thought my writing would end up allowing me to develop video games and TV series. It was painful coming to the realization that it won't happen and I still have trouble accepting it to this day.

 

[Bootleg Astolfo]

I always felt I was destined to be the next very angry austrian art school reject for some reason.

 

[Al Cappella]

Sigh, yes I did. In my 20s I was really quite convinced I was "special", bla bla bla. Writing and drawing/painting, bla bla bla. Then I discovered that this was most likely due to overcompensating for feeling like a worthless shit. That one died hard, and now I just feel embarrassed and sad.

 

[thendfornow]

Never. It's more what others peoples tried to sell me, always telling me i was out there to do great things. I dont believe ANY of this bullshit. I am just a human after all and i dont think my presence on earth will change anything at all in the grand scheme of things. But i do believe that when i kill myself they will realize who i really was. Personnally i never had any goals in life beside my vital needs if that is considered one or what i consider to be the minimum to have but even that i'm too fucked up to get. I think i never really cared about anything at all like i always knew that nothing really matters out there. I'm just like a ghost traveling in time.

 

[lessonlearned]

i thought that when i was younger but then realized how unrealistic it was, how insignificant i was, and how pointless it was to achieve.

 

[Zegers]

Time ago in teen time i was thinking something would happen i would have a fine life, with some friends, parties, a life laid-back and fun, well, nothing of it happened, all was a misery, im sick, lonely and spending everyday in a empty flat with almost no energy to get out of bed.

 

[Lost Magic]

Yes, I did. I had dreams and ambitions like many young person. But, now I am just fed up, getting old and that ship has sailed. So, now it is time for me to get on another boat and let it sink.

 

[Fadeawaaaay]

I was certain of it. Partly because I was surrounded by people of high achievement so I felt like it was just inevitable… If it was happening to all these people I knew of course it would happen to me. I did not realize that I was missing a some key ingredients namely focus, determination, talent, discipline. I had no idea that I was on my way to failing miserably. Deep down I had an inkling but I kept it well suppressed. Now it's quite evident. Quite sad really.

 

[Jaegerist123]

I felt that I was destined to be a great roboticist.

Roboticists build robots. I wanted to build robots for a living and I thought that I would develop the next best humanoid robot.

 

[its-about-time]

I simultaneously believe I am a worthless unimportant piece of shit and don't even bother to share my opinions on basic things because of it, and also an undiscovered super-insightful philosophical and economic thinker who is capable of seeing things that most others can't. The latter is probably just a coping mechanism for the former, though.

 

[MyStateKilledMe]

I kind of did. I was suicidal since I was 6, and hoped to get hit by a truck, or throw myself off a bridge and hit my skull on a rock, or stab myself in the chest with a knife, or get cancer. In fact, I always became highly jealous whenever I heard on the news about kids dying when I was a kid myself.

But... I was also one of those "gifted" (read: cursed) kids. In other words, I was very smart. So I naively thought I'd become a scientist or an inventor when I grew up. What I didn't realize---because nobody teaches it in schools! ---is that in today's world, you CAN'T just become a scientist or an inventor. You CAN'T just present your ideas to scientific organizations and/or the government, and be embraced. You need shitloads of money. You need political connections. You need to pander to people who share your political views. And worst of all, you need to be willing to trample over people's throats.

Just consider Anthony Fauci or Elon Musk. They're "technically" a scientist and an inventor. But in reality, they're just politician-sponsored hacks! Fauci's scaremongering made me join this site. And while Musk is better, the reason he's so rich is because Democrats worship electric cars like Jesus.

 

[WorthlessTrash]

I'm sure I might have potential if I put my mind to it, but I am willfully wasting it due to self hate.

 

[wljourney]

Not so much "destined for greatness" but I did believe I had a fair chance at success and happiness.

Guess I was wrong.

 

[Someday_Somehow32]

I want to believe the art and story I've been creating will bring me success even after I'm dead

 

[CatLover]

I kept being told how brilliant I was as a child, how clever and how talented (writing mainly) and how I was destined to be rich and famous. Writing was always my solace, something I could do that cost no money anywhere I had a pen and paper, or even just in my head. But it's very hard to make actual money or a career from it, unless you were born surrounded by the kind of people who run TV companies or publishers. Most work goes to people who are (I hope this doesn't sound big headed) nowhere near as good as me at it, but are in the 'right' social circles or their Daddy knows Uncle Rupert or whatever. In fact, I know several people who I would consider very good writers, all of them struggling, none of them properly 'published' and some of the dross that does come out.... well. I haven't written anything for over a decade now, I just lost the joy for it. I don't know if there was ever a time when talent could carry you to fame and riches, but it certainly isn't true any more. And then you'll get the occasional person who DOES manage it, like JK Rowling, or whoever, just to make you feel even worse about not being able to have succeeded. But they really are just the exception that makes the rule.

 

[Orchidia]

Yes, but bad parenting happened

 

[niiina]

Never, not even close.
I always knew I was a piece of shit. My suicide thoughts started at a very young age, probably because of my environment, but who knows, I just always knew this world wasn't meant for me or I wasn't meant for this world, whatever.

 

[Ligottian]

LOL. Never!

 

[Meaninglessness]

Yeah, I have done many great things in my life. I have done good things for humanity. I have had time to read and write. I have gained knowledge in many subjects. When you live alone you have more time to self-realize yourself. I have also been kind and I have helped people. But I choose to be anonymous here. Albert Einstein said: "Be a loner. That gives you time to wonder, to search for the truth. Have holy curiosity. Make your life worth living." But I am just a meaningless human being who will die like everyone else.

 

[ShanaRei]

Yes when I was younger. Thought I'd be a great animator or game designer. Then a great writer. I still sometimes believe in the writing dream. I did put in a lot of work for animation projects, but I had no talent. Sad to say now. And being overworked in the field led me to the start of the issues I'm having now.

 

[MyStateKilledMe]

When I was a child, I thought I'd grow up to be a scientist---I was one of those "gifted" kids. Which, in retrospect, was more of a curse than a gift. Mainly, it became a license for my family to abuse me when I anything less than perfect grades. Second, no adult took my intelligence seriously. They just fussed over it like they'd fuss over a cute puppy, but did nothing to reward me for having it. And peers bullied me for it. Which put me on the solid path of suicidality at age 6.

30+ years later, I fix computers for a living. My job is actually decent. It pays enough to live on and save up, and I get along reasonably well with managers and colleagues. But it's no scientist job I imagined having when I was a child. I'm basically checking off days as they pass, hoping for an easy terminal illness.

 

[BipolarExpress]

Yeah, when I was a child—and when I was having a manic episode earlier this year. (In fact, I thought I was already great!)

 

[cowie]

Yes, and I think most kids who were put in "gifted" programs felt this way. When you step back and think about how many kids across the country are in these programs, it really doesn't make sense to think you are destined for greatness at all, but as a kid you live in a bubble. Even if you are the smartest person at your high school, that's worth a lot, but it's not guaranteed success. There's a lot of random people who succeed in surprising ways.

 

[MyStateKilledMe]

On paper, gifted programs are good. But many of them are implemented horribly. More often than not, the only differences between gifted programs and regular classes is extra homework and harder standards (like 95% correct answers to get the top grade, rather than 90%).

First off, a child's "gift" must actually feel like a gift. What does the child actually benefit from his smartness/giftedness? Is it extra freedoms? Is it more respect from his family and/or teachers? If all the gifted kid gets as a "reward" is having to work harder to avoid getting in trouble, is it really a gift? Or just a giant albatross around his neck?

Second, "gifted" often really means "ahead of his biological age". And as the gifted kid grows and learns new things, so do his peers. By late teens, the peers catch up. And the "gifted" teen ends up knocked off his pedestal like a roof off a house in a hurricane. In the end, regular kids end up working as senior managers for Fortune 500 companies, while former gifted kids end up driving for UberEats delivering their lunches.

Third, the intellect coming with giftedness is sometimes a byproduct of being on the autistic spectrum. Which comes with numerous social difficulties that are beyond the scope of this thread.

 

[Superdeterminist]

Apparently, I am destined for mediocrity. That greatly angers me and I feel like I should have been meant for more. I would rather be dead than exist as forgettable npc #9999

 

[manukahoney]

I simultaneously believe I am a worthless unimportant piece of shit and don't even bother to share my opinions on basic things because of it, and also an undiscovered super-insightful philosophical and economic thinker who is capable of seeing things that most others can't. The latter is probably just a coping mechanism for the former, though.

Haha same

 

[Doom]

Yes, I constantly believe that, but it's just my way of coping. The harsh truth It that we are nothing special and theres no greatness for the weak.

 

[bluem00n]

I had a 1 in 40 million chance of winning the lottery last weekend, and I'm still very VERY surprised that I didn't win !