when they say, "you can do anything you set your mind t

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When people like your folks or people in school tell you that you can do or be anything you want to be with enough hard work and determination, is that like saying to an ugly person that they're beautiful on the inside?

Sometimes I have to be told these things like saying "how you doing?" is a rhetorical question...

but when some one tells an "ugly" person you are beutiful inside they mean how nice of a personality you have got just the same as a realy fit boy could look nice but have a horrible personality and therfore cannot be beutiful inside

I don't know, but it's not very realistic, is it? I've been trying to set things on fire with my mind my whole life and have yet to succeed.

Well, the phrase can easily be taken out of context...

I think it holds some, but not that much, truth.

My parents tell me that a lot. That sounds like a Disney fairytale world where you can make your dreams come true by wishing upon a star & having a magic fairy godmother help

This the the kind of moronic saying that causes young people to doubt the sanity of grownups. Of course you can't be anything you want to be, some things are just not in the cards for you. But you likely can accomplish a lot more than you are currently.

I hate this. My mom tells me I can be anything and do anything but define anything? What is anything? No one can do anything or everyone would be writing music and singing and be going out in space or be mathematicians. Everyone be good at math.

My parents never told me "I could be anything I wanted to be" when I was growing up. They were far too busy criticizing everything I did. I had a teacher who told the class that "you are somebody, you can do it." But then that teacher used to make fun of me on a regular basis.

The Grownups(or Grups as they were called in an ep of the original Star Trek series) are trying to be encouraging & supportive but that phrase is the wrong method for us. I think our issues with that phrase might be related to being Aspies. We may be interpreting it more literally than NTs would.

you too?
maybe if we combine forces... but what to burn..?

I was never told that when I was growing up. I was told that my autism would keep me from doing most things that other people can do. Thanks for the encouragement, you Nazis.

Same here, I've given up and started using matches.

OMG!! This is an synchronicity, I was talking about my grandmother today to a friend & that is her favour saying
Yes there a lot of truth in it, imagination is wonderful thing!

true. there is a middle ground between the extremes of optimism and pessimism.

This thread made me pick up my sketch book. Maybe I can do anything that I set my mind to, within reason.

YAY! i bet you can make some beautiful art.