Gifted or Giftless

Is a gift always good?

The term ‘gifted’ was something i heard from a young age.

That somebody was blessed from God to have this talent.

That my own failure was due to not having a gift.

It took me years to realise this is a load of nonsense.

A gift and talent need to be nurtured.

Some have an easier time than others to do certain things but still the route of discovery tends to favour the ones who are exposed to the subject or task they undertake.

In our school we played football, shinty and rugby. My physical frame is not much of a rugby player, so that was stroked off the list. Shinty is a game with sticks played in the Gaelic culture. I have never myself seen it played outside of Scotland. What were the chances of me becoming a star as a shinty player? Probably a bit more than if I decided to be a football player. Partly because of the numbers and the unique culture. I became involved with this sport at school and it became a badge of honour to play in the school team.

I stopped playing when i left school and never seen a game since.

It was fun and I believe I learnt certain things doing that.

Was i an expert or gifted? Perhaps if i had continued till this day.

I do not know what would have happened.

There is not a lot of money or career in that, unlike other sports but other things happen in life and drag us away. Things that will earn us money.

So we end up in boring dead end jobs just to support ourselves.

I have seen those who developed talent let it go to waste.

Have I done this? Have you?

How can you assure you are not wasting any potential talent you may have.