Changing People

I seem to change many that I meet. I have no reason why: it just happens. I don’t set out to do this and a few are resentful.

I’d like to think that I inadvertently expose people to the reality of their abilities and show them a path by which they can fulfil them. I am not always nice about it. I use words like ‘grow up’, ‘piss off’ and the rest. However, it is important that people understand what they can achieve and be told so, for many are far better than they think they are.

Why oh why do they underestimate themselves? What is it in their upbringing that leads them to this? I have been seriously trying to think of a single instance when either of my parents told me something was impossible. Haven’t come up with one. And equally, I have no need of others to spell out my limitations. I am very much aware of them but I don’t mind you telling me if you have spotted another.

Nonetheless, most people that I have met have changed me; sometimes a little, sometimes a lot and almost always for the better. They have shaped me and I am glad of that.

My dad did sit me down one day when I was 11 and had won a place at grammar school. He cautioned me. He said something like that while I had been very successful at primary school, I must not necessarily expect to do the same at grammar school because all the kids there have been successful. He did it gently. The rest is history.