Do you think you are the dumbest creature on the planet?

[KiaKaha]

Look - all I am saying, is that yes absolutely you have some good points and advice - and indulging in self pity and preposterous notions of how pathetic everyone is, is definitely unhelpful - sometimes a bit of tough love is necessary. I have dealt with people who have an amazingly awful victim mentality - they wont even TRY - because they believe they are powerless - and that the desire to even change is completely alien to them. I understand that people are frustrating - but I think showing some understanding and patience first, is more helpful than a sharp contrast of how they are currently feeling. It just wont work.

And yes - I am not perfect either. I have all kinds of issues and I am HORRIBLE with people. In fact you are quite right, I get frustrated with certain kinds of people too. Perhaps my tolerance of others need some work as well.

 

[sullyS25]

I agree completely, understanding and patience are key to identifying with and helping others and that is where I struggle so I truly appreciate you pointing this out to me.

 

[Lea]

I think I am clueless about no matter how minor house repairs and practical things, or when something is with my bike, my father or someone repairs it or I take it to the repair. Or when some device gets stuck or I should put something together, it´s awfull. Even my mother said she can´t believe me being that dumb ::.

 

[string3r]

Yep. I think it's mainly due to my parents being extremely critical of me doing silly things in the past, like forgetting to lock the front door or burning toast lol.

 

[Steppen-Wolf]

Nope!, I'm kind of a mental "cripple" in a certain way, I know and accept that. But I'm also very smart in many other ways.

 

[Flanscho]

I think I am clueless about no matter how minor house repairs and practical things, or when something is with my bike, my father or someone repairs it or I take it to the repair. Or when some device gets stuck or I should put something together, it´s awfull. Even my mother said she can´t believe me being that dumb ::.

Seems that you simply didn't try hard enough yourself, since you know that others will fix that anyway.

 

[sullyS25]

I think I am clueless about no matter how minor house repairs and practical things, or when something is with my bike, my father or someone repairs it or I take it to the repair. Or when some device gets stuck or I should put something together, it´s awfull. Even my mother said she can´t believe me being that dumb ::.

Everyone is clueless in certain aspects of life. It doesnt make you dumb though. That sucks that your mother would say something to you like that, I dont really make the connection between not knowing how to make minor house repairs and practical things and being stupid. I've read your posts on here, you write intelligently and if Im not mistaken, English isn't even your first language, correct?

 

[jaim38]

I think I am clueless about no matter how minor house repairs and practical things, or when something is with my bike, my father or someone repairs it or I take it to the repair. Or when some device gets stuck or I should put something together, it´s awfull. Even my mother said she can´t believe me being that dumb ::.

I'm also a girl and i suck at repairing electronic and mechanical devices. But, I think girls in general are not good at such things. On the other hand, guys seem to have a natural ability to fix things.

Sometimes, I feel dumb for not being able to do the things that my dad or my brother can do. For example, I cannot change a tire; when I had a flat tire, I had to call up a friend to change the tire for me. I tried to help out but I'm too scrawny and weak. On the other hand, my brother can change a tire when he's still a teenager, at the very first time!

 

[NightTimeForever]

No I don't ever feel that way. I feel this post is very extreme and even a way of calling out for attention. Sorry for my bluntness but that's how I feel.

No need to apologize. I guess to some up my thoughts on the issue I will borrow a saying from someone else, who was plagued with schizophrenia. This person felt that he intellectually "fell below the level of a beast." In many ways I feel like the family dog is smarter than me.

Just looking for others who can relate.

 

[sullyS25]

And to sum up my thoughts, I think your perception is skewed. I can relate to what you're saying when it comes to feeling stupid don't get me wrong, sometimes I feel really dumb.

What I am trying to offer you is another way of viewing it, another perception. I think you can agree that thinking like this wont help you in any way, right? So would you be open to viewing it from another perspective? Why do you think you're dumber than the family dog?

 

[NightTimeForever]

I do agree my perception is in general skewed. It was actually confirmed that my anxiety bordered on psychosis by two mental health professionals.

I also agree thinking that way won't help me, but it is a hard thought to turn off.

 

[sullyS25]

Well I can certainly identify with that too. My mind is crazy and thoughts come out of no where and disappear into no where. Somedays I will wake up happy as can be and will wake up anxious as hell due to what goes through my head.

A little technique I have used in the past and continue to use is that of just observing the thoughts as opposed to trying to turn them off. When I can successfully observe my thoughts without judging them or attaching to them, I can truly see how ridiculous they really are. It is very difficult, I know but if I am vigilant about it, I come to find out how ridiculous my thoughts really are.

Someone described watching your thoughts to me as sitting on the side of the river watching the water...it comes and it goes, just like your thoughts do. Where problems arise for me is when I attach to certain thoughts and get carried down the river. One thought turns into another which turns into another until I have developed this huge belief about myself or the world I live in which is completely uninvestigated. When I delve into why I believe certain things and question my beliefs I eventually realize that they are ridiculous. It helps to talk to outside observers regarding this which is why I am on this forum.

Lastly, I just want to say that the majority of our thoughts concentrate on regretting the past or worrying about the future. This happens to almost everyone and the majority of people never are truly in the moment. It is helpful for me to know this when I am observing my thoughts because I know the patterns and I can see when I am thinking about the future or the past and ignoring the present moment.

Anyways, that is just my two cents. Other members said what I said earlier may have come off as offensive, that wasnt my intention. I have just found freedom from my thoughts and I'm so eager to share it with others that sometimes they may not be where I'm at regarding all this. SO I apologize if what I said came off as offensive.

 

[Lea]

Seems that you simply didn't try hard enough yourself, since you know that others will fix that anyway.

In some cases maybe, in some not because I have no choice, for example my numeric bike lock got stuck in town, so that I couldn´t lock the bike and go to the shop. I was trying hard but couldn´t do it. So the option was, go to buy a new one, or take the bike to the shop of my relatives, which I did. Then I took the lock to a random bike shop and the lady put some grease on it and it started moving very well. Quite a simple and obvious solution isn´t it, yet it wouldn´t occur to me.

 

[Lea]

Everyone is clueless in certain aspects of life. It doesnt make you dumb though. That sucks that your mother would say something to you like that, I dont really make the connection between not knowing how to make minor house repairs and practical things and being stupid. I've read your posts on here, you write intelligently and if Im not mistaken, English isn't even your first language, correct?

Don´t worry about my mother saying this to me, we call each other dumb all the time but we don´t really mean it. Or maybe we do, but we´re just used to it .

Thanks, I guess I am maybe somewhat intelligent in some areas, sometimes to the point when I am convinced only I see the obvious truth and am frustrated when others don´t (I don´t mean to start a debate about relativity of truth here). I guess it´s easier to be a sheep like I was when I was a kid. The more you know and the more aware you are, the bigger pain in the ass it is.. Despite that, I know that there is a whole sea of things that I don´t know and feel like all mankind stores enormous knowledge which I know only a drop of.

Yes I learned English when I was 19..

 

[gazelle]

No I disagree. I think there is a very distinct line between coddling and helping, which I don't think is being understood here. Enabling is certainly disempowering - is this poster the dumbest creature on the planet? No of course he isn't - but that is the way that he feels. Normalizing and giving some semblance of understanding to his feelings - is NOT enabling. It is showing that the way that he feels is important and valid. Discarding by saying "oh please" etc is just simply... unhelpful.

I understand what you're saying and I think you make a valid point that criticizing one who needs help isn't going to be helpful at all but, I wasn't trying to discard the OP's feelings, I was just trying to depict how this approach can be harmful.
To the OP:
You have every right to seek for poeple who can relate or might have related
at some point of their life and gotten over these feelings.
You have every right to discuss your problems, but criticizing yourself so harshly in real life is just ingraining a weak image of yourself in other poeples minds.
I've done this before and seen the results.
And I hope I didn't come accross offensive that definitely wasn't my intention.

 

[Oton]

Yup feel like that all the time i'm not very smart even my two younger sisters are smarter than me... but i really don't mind. To me being smart doesn't mean you get the best grades and know every book or something like that. Smart to me means you invent things on your own, being creative heck i rather be a dumb person that is creative than a very smart but boring person.

 

[NightTimeForever]

You have every right to discuss your problems, but criticizing yourself so harshly in real life is just ingraining a weak image of yourself in other poeples minds.
I've done this before and seen the results.

No argument there.

Anyways, that is just my two cents. Other members said what I said earlier may have come off as offensive, that wasnt my intention. I have just found freedom from my thoughts and I'm so eager to share it with others that sometimes they may not be where I'm at regarding all this. SO I apologize if what I said came off as offensive.

Again, apologizing isn't necessary, but thanks though.

I know what you're saying, I have mood swings as well, and I think it's because my life is so consistently mundane and depressing that my good moods inevitably down spiral to the negative.

 

[truffleshuffle]

I'm also a girl and i suck at repairing electronic and mechanical devices. But, I think girls in general are not good at such things. On the other hand, guys seem to have a natural ability to fix things.

Sometimes, I feel dumb for not being able to do the things that my dad or my brother can do. For example, I cannot change a tire; when I had a flat tire, I had to call up a friend to change the tire for me. I tried to help out but I'm too scrawny and weak. On the other hand, my brother can change a tire when he's still a teenager, at the very first time!

Some things like changing a tire can be hard even for people that are not small. I am a guy whos 230+ pounds and I went out a few months ago and one of my tires were flat on my car. I have changed tires before but it was totaly jammed I even stood on my lug wrench and it didn;t move I had to call a tire shop to get them to come out and they had to use a impact wrench because the shot that last messed with my tires put the lugnuts on to tight with a impact wrench. You don;t need to feel dumb for things like that. every one has problmes they need help on or don;t know how to do. Once you learn though you can do it yourself even though its not fun.

 

[Dark angel]

Not the dumbest but certainly I've always felt inferior to everyone else I know when it comes to intelligence. I've noticed that compared to former classmates I used to have a harder problem concentrating and grasping concepts. It took me much much longer to understand things when they quickly understood everything given in class. Including when I am around my best friends they seem to be very eloquent and can formulate a conversation about anything and I always feel like an outsider because I don't know anything about that topic, so I just seat there and listen.(One of the reasons why I dont always like family gatherings or friendly get togethers) Supposedly everyone has a certain "gift" or potential in a specific area but I've never being able to understand or see that in myself. Maybe I dont have any.:idontknow:

 

[Entangled]

Nope. I've watched enough 'true tv' to realize that I am certainly NOT the dumbest person on the planet. But I'm not some super genius either, and that's ok.