Overconfidence
This girl touches into a subject that I had thought about a while back. It’s about how 80% or more of teens believe that one day they will be famous:
So is this true? And if so, is it a bad thing? Yes, I think it is true to some extent. At some point when I was a kid or teen, I surely believed I was going to be a professional baseball player. But this was of course because as a youth, like all youths, I did not have a fully developed mind yet. So a youth’s understanding of the world is not that of an adult. So of course, a lot of kids probably think that they are really going to be famous one day.
I also believe that this does carry into adulthood. But at that point, it just becomes more about fantasizing about being recognized for something even though deep down inside we don’t actually expect that to happen. So, for a kid, it’s pretty much the same thing. They fantasize, but because they have undeveloped minds, they also believe what they fantasize about.
Is this a bad thing? I don’t think it is. I think it just falls into the category of overconfidence. Overconfidence is actually a good thing because it’s what keeps a person going. There’s nothing wrong with having dreams, setting goals, or fantasizing about accomplishing a very distant or unachieveable goal. It’s what makes life fun. If having fantasies or feelings of overconfidence were to ever stop, this is when depression sets in.
So when does it become a problem? When we actually start to have unrealistic expectations of ourselves that are based on our fantasies or feelings of overconfidence which then leads you to feel like you are a failure. Therefore, it’s definitely important to know that when you are shooting for the moon in life, you need to realize the difference between a realistic goal for yourself and one that goes beyond your true expectations so that you do not get carried away.
As we age, our dreams and fantasies change, but they still remain. The only thing that scares me about life is what happens when you are 60, 70, or 80+ years old. At that point, you know deep down inside you are traveling downhill in life and that you are not as capable as you once were when you were younger. You also know that your years are numbered. So do the dreams and fantasies stop? Probably so I guess. This is when we truly realize that we are all mortal beings and everyone only gets a short time to be here on earth. No one escapes death. So while it is ok to dream and fantasize, make sure you make the time to put those thoughts aside and live in the here and now. Enjoy being alive and being able to smell the fresh air outside and the sunlight on your face. Take a moment every day to realize that, and I guarantee that at least for a split moment every day you will have feelings of fulfillment and gratitude that you are alive. Hey, there are a lot of people who spend their whole life wallowing in narcistic greed. And although they might have achieved more than you on a material level, if you can take a moment to live in the here and now every day, then the joke is on them in life because you get to experience something that they never bother to.
Leave a Reply