Anonymous made some provocative quotes during her lifetime. One of my favorites is the one about hell being the end of your life when the person you could have become meets the person you became. Motivational speakers use this concept to scare people into self improvement. But this concept works in reverse for me. I tend to envision the person I could have become as one all alone, hungry, addicted, and in jail but for the love of others.
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Suicide Squeeze 
I’ve always had trouble with that quote. “The person you could have become” puts such a narrow, linear, materialistic view on life. What if you COULD have become someone rich and famous (externally appear successful) but suffered from depression and spiritual bankruptcy. Or do we get to meet more than one, all Possible Selves and shake hands with them like in a parade…?
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I’m pretty sure “becoming” is far more faceted than the have/have not equation.
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You are absolutely right. I think my scrutiny of this quote is on its attitude of comparing and hinting that incessant pushing to be better, is better. Hell suggests guilt, after all. If other traits eg self-compassion/kindness/acceptance/good self esteem are to be encouraged… why compare?
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Good idea for a book. Each chapter a different version of Possible Self.
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Realizing you could have done more with your life is only beneficial if you realize it before the end of your life. At the end of our lives, we are simply who we are. Hell is reserved for the others that had greater expectations.
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Interesting. Now that you make me think, I realize: my expectations are too high, my competitiveness off putting, and my strong ego is always too visible. So why do I take rejection relatively well? Defeat could be an opportunity to find self deprecating humor that balances out some of my negatives. But more likely, the humor is a façade to cover up the disappointments and not give others the chance to think I care. Thank you, Brad, for stimulating this free therapy session!
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Awe, shucks. So you really DO care, then? I thought so. 😁
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🤗
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“We know who we are by the choices we make.” – anon
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It can be scary to find out who we are!
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Like your post on the Amish – I avoid mirrors. There’s a Burton Cummings song out there about I’ll stay home and find myself in all the pretty pictures…
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it’s all about setting low standards for yourself…
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I wish I had thought that through earlier in my life.
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it’s never too late…
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🤣
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That anonymous sure got around, didn’t she? I bet she’s quite a gal. This is the first time I have ever heard this quote, however. I think my grandma would have used a didactic yet technical term to describe this quote. I think the term for it is “hogwash.”
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In the future, my family will be exposing fallacies with the words, “Uncle Herb’s grandma would use the term ‘hogwash’ to describe this nonesense.”
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😆🤣😅😅😂😂😆😆😆😁😉😎
I’m deeply honored. My grandma was full of…wisdom.
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What Herb said…
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If in doubt, I tend to go with “what Herb said.”
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“Whatever you do you’ll regret it.” George Bernard Shaw. I’m following your blog now so I can get some new comedy material. GBS 😂
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I don’t remember hearing that GBS quote but it hits the mark!
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Well, you can ask George now that he is following your blog. 😅
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Yeah, why must the glass we peer through necessarily be darker and half empty? I always tell myself, ‘hey, it/I could be worse.’ A lot worse.
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We waste a lot of time complaining before the arrival of “a lot worse.”
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Odd quote – I have never read anything that followed that line. I think I will be ok with who I ultimately become (considering what I started out with). I have seen MANY who have done far less with way more.
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Odd quotes doom the writer to anonymity!
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So does WordPress apparently. At few of my regular commentators have become ‘somebody’s’.
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What would you be addicted to?
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That is a really good question. I think I could have become addicted to alcohol if I had enough tragedies in my life and began self medicating.
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Nobody can quite express themselves as well as Anonymous can.
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Anonymous has more freedom to say crazy stuff.
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The trouble with contentment is that others always think you should want more.
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That is true and profound.
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Ha ha… excellent analogy, your version! 🤠
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My worst self is drowning myself in a sea of Jujubes. My worse-than-worse self is thinking maybe that’s not so bad.
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So Jujubes are your weakness. I have great discipline until I am around oatmeal raisin cookies. If I open a package of six, I have trained myself to take one and leave the room. If I the package is with me, I will idly keep eating the cookies unless someone intervenes.
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I like to think that all the people I actually became would gang up on the ones I could have become and beat them all senseless in payback for a lifetime of taunting.
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🤣😎
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