Ever feel just plain ole mediocre?

[graywarrior]

God, I hate that.

[youthere]

1. every.single.moment.

[graywarrior]

3. How do you deal with it?

[youthere]

14. move on, and focus on being..

the best damn mediocrity in the world.
That, and a lot of wine.

[Bullwinkle925]

22. I like your style!!

Here's to mediocrity!

[RevolutionaryActs]

2. I get that feeling quite a bit.

:evilfrown:


:hug:

[graywarrior]

4. Hard to believe that , Rev

[RevolutionaryActs]

9. Tis tru, tis tru

:shrug:

[lizziegrace]

5. Just about every day

:(

[graywarrior]

6. Is that we we hang out here?

[lizziegrace]

7. I think so

;)

At least here, I'm not invisible.

[reyd reid reed]

19. I aspire to your kind of 'mediocre'.

They just don't come any better 'n' you, sweetie.

:hug::hug::hug::hug:

:loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya:

[lizziegrace]

20. ...

:blush:

Thank you.

:hug:

[ghostsofgiants]

8. Constantly.

You get used to it.

[VelmaD]

10. feel tha way right now

*sigh*

[graywarrior]

11. We could be exceptionally mediocre.

Maybe we're just really good at it.

[RevolutionaryActs]

12. Such an optimist.

:silly:

[reyd reid reed]

13. Mediocre would be a step up.

Everyone's gotta have a goal, right?

:D

:hi:

[lizziegrace]

15. Heh

:hug:

[reyd reid reed]

18. ..

:hug:

:loveya:

[Redstone]

26. Feh.

Same to the others here who sell themselves short as well.

Redstone

[reyd reid reed]

62. Awwww

That's the nicest thing anyone's said to me all day.

:hug:

:loveya:

[Fox Mulder]

16. I feel that way everday.

I know I can do better, but I can't right now.

:(

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

17. Always.

But I'm really excellent at it. Color me a glorious shade of beige.

[lizziegrace]

21. Graywarrior

I would never use the word mediocre to describe you.

Your art, your spirit is so far from mediocre.

[graywarrior]

23. You are kind.

I have a best friend who is a published author, an actress so not mediocre. I talked with her tonight on the phone. She's going into therapy because she feels inadequate. We both just experienced a ddp deep emotional shift from sources that are outside ourselves. My feelings of mediocrity are overwhelming. It's ego. I hate it.

[lizziegrace]

27. I realize you feel mediocre

but you certainly aren't perceived that way.

:hug:

[graywarrior]

31. God, I love you at this moment.

[lizziegrace]

35. Wow

If I knew you were that easy... ;)

:hug:

:)

[Redstone]

29. Oh, Christ, NOBODY ever feels like they're good enough or that

they're accomplishing all they can.

Didn't you know that? It's a standard condition of life.

Everybody feels like that. Except rightwing freeper losers, because they're ignorant.

Redstone

[Ekirh]

24. Oh yah I feel that. . .

All the time . ..

it sucks..

[Redstone]

25. Nah. Either real good or real crappy.

And I bet you can figure out which recurring factor in my life determines which it'll be at any given time.

Redstone

[graywarrior]

28. You and I, my friend, are too much alike

[Redstone]

32. You mean you're really a six-foot-four GUY? Damn, you've been doing

a good job of fooling us.

(Yes, I appreciate the sentiment. Just thought I'd try to cheer you up.)

Redstone

[graywarrior]

34. That's my problem. I think I'm a 6 foot 4 guy, and I ain't.

[Redstone]

36. Well, get used to feeling mediocre, if that's your aspiration.

I hate to be the one to break the news, but that there's one mountain you ain't NEVER going to climb.

Redstone

[graywarrior]

37. Damn, don't I know it.

[Redstone]

40. Well, you KNOW, if you had started young, set a goal, and APPLIED

yourself to attaining that goal...

(How many times have we all heard THAT, and from people who themselves never amounted to much?)

Redstone

[graywarrior]

42. LOL, I coulda been a contender.

[Redstone]

43. I coulda been an MIT or Harvard student, but wasn't interested. Broke my

poor old Ma's heart it did, she being from Boston...

Redstone

[rug]

30. Usually I feel so-so.

[bicentennial_baby]

33. all the time....

especially lately... :hug:

[graywarrior]

38. No wonder I love you all...a bunch of fabulous average joe's.

[femmocrat]

39. Yes.... The problem is that I know "mediocre" is the highest I can ever

hope to achieve. I'm never going to be "great" or "highly accomplished" ... and even if I could, no one would recognize my greatness or accomplishments.

[graywarrior]

41. Bingo

[Redstone]

45. Yeah, but if you spend all your time trying to be "great," you never have

any time left over to drink, or laugh, or have other fun, or play with your kids, or hang out on DU.

I'll take not being great any day of the week, thank you very much. It's a better life.

Redstone

[idgiehkt]

44. yes I do.

on some days mediocre is a step up.

although there is a new man in my life lately...he lives in my brain and wears a black and white striped shirt and a whistle around his neck. It's a strange development; lately when I start hearing bad thoughts in my head he blows the whistle and says 'offsides' or whatever it is they say. It's bizarre I had to wait this long for him to show up but it's nice that all of a sudden for whatever reason there is a buffer there when I start feeling down on myself, he says 'this is ridiculous, none of that bullshit you are selling yourself is true'. Wow. It's kind of nice.

[graywarrior]

46. It's not this guy is it?

[idgiehkt]

49. he's been on my mind

of course I totally respect that you have first dibs and wouldn't step on your toes...but I liked those videos you posted last night. Glad to see someone emoting like that. And that powder blue eyeshadow. Just love makeup on men, maybe it's making a comeback (fingers crossed)

[graywarrior]

54. All my friends laugh at me over this...hahahhaha

I'm smitten, what can I say. The kid has a powerfully, intense talent.

[idgiehkt]

63. crushes on people make me feel alive

It 'vitalizes' me or something. I have been worshipping at the throne of Eddie Vedder all night, just pondering what a voice he is for my generation and how glad I am that he is still around producing relevant music because I was too 'cool' to like him when his band was the enormous blockbuster thing that they were back in the early 90's.

It's great you caught Lukas on the way up. He kind of reminds me a bit of a kid I practically worship, who is an ice skater, he has the same face structure and build. Come the start of the skating season I will be all about him nonstop and will be an embarassment to adults everywhere, but oh well, love me, love my obsession. :)

[petronius]

47. I'm so glad I'm a beta.

Alpha children wear grey. They work much harder than we do, because they're so frightfully clever. I'm really awfuly glad I'm a Beta, because I don't work so hard. And then we are much better than the Gammas and Deltas. Gammas are stupid. They all wear green and Delta Children wear khaki. Oh no, I don't want to play with Delta children. And Epsilons are still worse. They're too stupid to be able to read or write. Besides they wear black, which is such a beastly colour. I'm so glad I'm a Beta.

(No point, really; just the firat thing I thought of when I saw your thread.)

[graywarrior]

48. I'm an alpha in a crisis.

[petronius]

50. I know what you mean; I've felt it too

The truth is that none of ever feels that we're as good as we could be, or that we've performed to the best of our abilities. We're too intimately aware of our flaws, and so jaded with our good points that we discount them. There isn't really a solution, except to make a conscious effort to recognize and value your strengths - and to realize that tearing yourself down is a pointless exercise (you'll always 'win' when the game is to make yourself feel bad).

As an experiment: if I described to you a stranger, who you didn't know but who had all your accomplishments and abilities, would you call that person mediocre?

[graywarrior]

53. It's what I don't do with those abilities that saddens me

[petronius]

55. But there will always be something you don't do

In fact, an infinite and never-decreasing number of things. It's what you do do that matters...

[graywarrior]

57. I do DU

Meanwhile, my sketch pad is on the floor, the book I'm writing is on the floor, and I sold my guitar.

[Floogeldy]

51. Why would you hate it when I feel mediocre?

Not that I do, ever. ;)

[graywarrior]

52. Because you are like me.

[Floogeldy]

56. Thanks for the compliment.

:)

[graywarrior]

58. Wow.

I think I get it now.

[Jamastiene]

59. Yes, more and more so lately.

I wish I hadn't skipped mediocre and gone straight to good for nothing so fast. :shrug: I'm trying so hard, but by brain is dead for some odd reason. All these kind people trying to help me undertand calculus and I'm just confused...

[graywarrior]

60. You're the last person I'd classify as good for nothing

[marzipanni]

61. I smell meaty okra

wafting from the campfire. Mmmmm-mm!



Yes, Times have been better, but I'll venture to say we'll be feeling more upbeat soon... :hug:

[Skittles]

64. F*** no

I'm SKITTLES and I can PROVE IT

[graywarrior]

66. Go ahead...I'll wait.

[GreenTea]

65. No.

[billyskank]

67. When I'm not feeling like a total asshole, yup.

[regularguy]

68. I'm the best shitty musician around,

or am I the worst kick-ass player? I'm either the best looking ugly person I know, or the homeliest of all the hotties. I can't tell if I'm a brilliant dullard or the dimmest of geniuses. I think about these things. Cheers to you!

[graywarrior]

76. I'm printing your post and keeping it in my wallet.

[raccoon]

69. What's so terrible about being mediocre?

THere's way too much emphasis in our society about being the biggest, the best, the richest, the whatever.

What, are we supposed to be like the children of Lake Woebegon, who are ALL above average?

Not everybody can be the top dog.

[WCGreen]

70. SOme times....

And then I look back at all the things I have fucked up in my life and say, hey I'm doin' much better now....

[gfindu]

71. Not so much lately

Being doing more

[NewWaveChick1981]

72. I usually feel pretty good. But my job's been making me feel

really mediocre lately. :( :hug:

[billyskank]

75. I know what you mean

:hug:

[BarenakedLady]

73. Yes but

I'm working on it.

:hug:

[Extend a Hand]

74. I read your post earlier and thought : oh YES

I do too.

And then I saw this older article over on http://reddit.com and it made me smile and feel a little less mediocre. Hope it works the same for you:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/01/18/MN73840.DTL

<snip>
Unlike unskilled counterparts, the most able subjects in the study, Kruger and Dunning found, were likely to underestimate their competence. The researchers attributed this to the fact that, in the absence of information about how others were doing, highly competent subjects assumed that others were performing as well as they were -- a phenomenon psychologists term the ``false consensus effect.''

[graywarrior]

77. THANK you! That is a great explanation of my malady.

So I am extremely capable at being mediocre. Wonderful.