There's something I can't get

For most people that have known me for a while, it's known that I rarely get angry at anyone, or that I seldom complain about someone attitude. I've always been as nice as I can with all people I meet; I think that everyone has the freedom to choose whatever attitude they feel up to, and as long as they don't hurt or get in the way of someone, everything else is ok.

Nevertheless, there is one thing that I always strive for with all my friends and family: I believe that attitude towards life challenges us, in the sense of setting and reaching goals. I understand the fact that someone without talents gives up quickly in life. However, if I someone I care about is talented, it’s something different: when I happen to know someone for some time, I always get this general idea about their talents and I'm always willing to help them find them, to know them, and use those talents to get through life, giving the best of themselves.

But there is one thing I see in many people that I know, that I can't understand: they live their lives senselessly wasting their talents, arguing that they are punished by destiny and just staying right there, within their comfort zone, watching time go by. For people that I care about, that's something that can't be forgiven. I definitely won't be watching them throw their talents to the wind. It makes no sense and it gets me upset.

Whenever possible, I try to talk to these kinds of people and make it clear to them that I won't give up on them, and that I will be pushing them to use those talents they have, to reach whatever goals they set for themselves. For me, there is no worse failure in life, than wasting those talents that life has given to us. And in strict sense, I encourage them to throw a realistic eye on their talents, and which goals can they achieve using the talents they have. For example, I know that I'm a very bad soccer player. It would be stupid if I tried to reach the goal of being a professional soccer player. It would be nonsense, -don't get me wrong on that- I may achieve the goal of playing soccer at a respectable level, of course, but I definitely won't reach the level that someone with talent and years of practice would have. It would be extremely hard for me to reach what a talented person in that area would reach very easily. And the same goes for those talented people in soccer: they may be very good at sports, but great chances are that they're not good at all in quantum physics. It's a matter of talents.

Somehow we all know or have a clue about the talents we have been gifted with, but sometimes we ignore them or diminish them just because we don't truly believe in ourselves. That's the first step we have to take: believing in ourselves and putting both feet on the ground firmly. To achieve this, it is necessary to be realistic and accept ourselves exactly as we are, with all flaws and virtues. This first step may be a hard process, but once we know ourselves and all the tools we actually have, it will be easier for us to use our talents and achieve goals that fulfill our desired state of being in life.

I know life is not easy at all, but I think we all have the key to success in life within the grasp of our hand, in our given talents.