Potential

I read this & it provoked many thoughts. As I could relate to many aspects of what it says. 

Potential: adjective1. having or showing the capacity to become or develop into something in the future.

I'm aware that I'm not the only one in the world that sees the potential in other people. I once thought that it was a positive quality of mine, the ability to see the good in everyone. (I only think senseless killers & child molesters are "bad"). The older I get, the more I realize it might not be the best thing. I think everyone has potential to be amazing...this is still true. BUT, that doesn't mean everyone will get there. It doesn't mean that everyone will reach their full potential, at least not in my lifetime, or at least not while I'm around to witness it. 

People grow at a different pace, people are comfortable being a certain way & no one could truly get in the way of that. As much as we like to think we change people, we don't, people make a conscience effort to try to change, doesn't mean we did anything, it means they did. 

& that's okay. 

I'm sure people have met me & also thought I was full of potential, but "not quite there yet"... I think women suffer from this more than men. We tend to assume our nurturing nature will eventually change the way someone is, or at least adjust it. But that's rarely the case, A person only reaches their potential when they are working to get there, when they put in 100% effort to reach it. NOT when you work for them to get there, NOT when you put in 100% effort for them to reach it. Once you accept that potential is an individual mission and not a team effort, you learn to accept people for who they actually are, and not who you wish them to one day be. 

This is where it might get tricky. The part where you have to accept who they are and decide if you're okay with that. Decide if who they are right now works for you, not who you think they could be, not who they once were, but exactly who they are at the moment. Sometimes, we, I, remain stuck in the who you were, or the who you could be. Get stuck in this concept of "potential", in the "after a few adjustments", in the "remember when you were perfect"... in the "this once worked"... in the "they will come around eventually"... 

But...

We...I... have to learn to let go of potential & work on my own. Become the best version of myself and let everyone work on their own potential. Accept people for who they are and let go of those who no longer prove to have any interest in adjusting. 

xoxo...

signs the girl letting go of potential...