Strengths and Weaknesses

Hello and welcome back to my weekly thoughts!

Today I want to talk about strengths and weaknesses, and how they can overlap.

I'm sure we're all aware of certain extremities in ourselves, parts of you that are innately helpful or hindering, things that particularly stick out, It would be hard not to notice these things after living with yourself for a while.

But something I find interesting about these strengths and weaknesses that people hold is that often they aren't completely one or the other, this becomes especially true the more impactful they are on your life.

What I'm saying is, weaknesses have at least some strength to them, and vice versa.

Allow me to explain with a few personal examples.

Let's start with weaknesses, for starters I tend to be quite anxious, this stems from overthinking things and generally being too cautious sometimes, but that isn't entirely bad, sure it has some unwanted side effects because of the extreme level I take it to, but it's actually helpful in identifying important decisions, as well as keeping me aware and alert of my actions and the actions of others.

I also have a problem with perfectionism at times, I strive to be incredible at everything I put time into, sometimes impossibly so, though I'm usually able to pull myself out of that mindset.

While this idea is at a toxic level, at it's core it also has value, often it will push me to do better and achieve what I could all along, though at other times it's just discouraging hahaha.

Strengths also follow this pattern however, for one example, I believe myself to be a very caring person when I have the mental resources to do so, I like to make people feel safe and loved, and to protect those important people at all costs, but that can obviously backfire a number of different ways.

If I put too much faith in the wrong people, if I choose the right people but give more of myself than I should, or if I end up treating it as a transactional relationship and expecting something back, these all end up hurting one if not both people involved and it can be dangerous if I'm not aware of it.

I also think I'm quite good at listening, which these days can be a very important and sought after skill, everyone wants to talk and get their bit out, me included, but having the ability to truly listen is very useful for deepening relationships.

This can also lead to an unhealthy amount of listening as well though, if the other person or people involved are not interested in letting you speak ever, or if the people you are listening to giving you dangerous thoughts, it's important to use discretion on what exactly you listen to.

Don't get the wrong idea though, I don't mean to say that you should stop understanding your strengths as strengths, or your weaknesses as weaknesses, I just find it interesting that they often go both ways, and like so much else to do with humans, they are very dynamic and ever changing.

Thanks for reading, and have a lovely week!