Why take an interest in personal development when you’re a zebra?
As a little zebra in his sneakers I try to be an inspiring high-potential for you! You show that yes yes yes, you can be gifted and also happy in this crazy world!
Personal development: a tool for getting to know yourself
I still think there’s a lot wrong with the world we live in. hypersensitive and super-emotional and I know that the world is unfair. It was through personal development and a lot of work on myself that I that I discovered I was a zebra .
Personal development has helped me enormously to accept myself as an individual in this crazy world, and also to understand other people and how they function.
What is personal development?
Personal development, according to wikipedia, “represents a heterogeneous group of currents of thought and methods aimed at improving self-knowledge, enhancing talents and potential, improving quality of life, and realizing one’s aspirations and dreams.“
Source : wikipedia
People sometimes confuse two notions: positive psychology and personal development. One does not equal the other. But both methods can be decrieds.
Personal development: a happiness scam? No…
Sometimes personal development is seen as a kind of doctrine for the pursuit of happiness… Like Candide and optimism! And if you’re a follower of this new way of thinking, then you’re a Panurge sheep who feeds Raphaëlle Giordano and Eckhart Tolle…
Personal development would then just be a new marketing trend, the emotion produced. And that’s when I tell myself that it’s really the people who criticize (anyway, when you judge, it’s because you’re a bit frustrated with life…) who have understood nothing about what this philosophy really is!
Voltaire, long before Jung, was talking about personal development with his famous Dervish and “il faut cultiver notre jardin“, the conclusion of our famous Candide!
Personal development, a tool that facilitates access to well-being and values
Cultivating your own garden doesn’t mean setting out to conquer happiness with the help of pseudo-coaches, selfies and the idea that because you believe in yourself, you’ll become a millionaire.
Personal development simply means giving ourselves the opportunity to let go of our limiting beliefs (see article on fears). And when you’re High Potential, Gifted, Zebra, it’s access to a form of consciousness, simple, free, obvious, that you’ve always been looking for!
Personal development helps us to refocus on ourselves, to detach ourselves from consumerism, one-track thinking, age-old codes and the musty way our societies function.
Using personal development as a lever to rediscover meaning
As I said in Intro, we live in a crazy world, full of incoherence… In a way, we’re giving up on current policies…
We’re a bit disillusioned and don’t believe in it anymore. Simply because it suits us better! We’re in a system that’s far too sclerotic to know that the solution will come from the current politicians (at least for me, clearly…!). Because I no longer share the same values.
Personal development: rediscover your free will!
Personal development has taught me to put the notion of money and success into perspective, and to refocus on my needs and desires. Our needs are personal and individual. For some it will be to be surrounded by nature and animals, for others it will be to work in a team or to have a job that makes sense, and for others it will simply be to enjoy their family, their children, etc…
Don’t put up with it…
Personal development teaches us not to suffer life. Not to accept being exploited, not to accept being disrespected. And also to put ourselves in other people’s shoes, to understand that we’re not alone on this planet. By refocusing on ourselves, we strangely turn towards others!
A personal quest that makes us think about others!
Personal development is not the science of individualism, quite the contrary… Behind this quest for ourselves, it’s also about understanding what’s at stake today.
As for charlatans, there are some in many professions, but no one has ever forced anyone to take on a coach, a shrink, do sport or eat organic food.
Above all, personal development is about giving people the chance to rediscover their free will and freedom.
What about us, HPI?
Regarding zebras, which have also been at the heart of the imposture and trend debate of late ^^, I believe that values such as optimism, respect, benevolence, tolerance, difference and freedom are our only chance of making neuro-diversity, or should I say diversity, a force for tomorrow, and perhaps finally imagining being able to live in a world at peace.
Conclusion: I think that when you’re a high-potential, zebra or gifted person, personal development is a great tool for understanding yourself and learning to manage your emotions and your relationship with the world and with others.
High Potential is not a disease; we use the verbs identify or detect rather than diagnose.
You can self-identify, but you’ll never be perfectly sure of the result. We all have our own cognitive biases.
In my experience, at first, people with high intellectual potential find it hard to consider, as they often suffer from a severe impostor syndrome.
If you want to test yourself and reassure yourself before contacting a psychologist, on Suivez le Zèbre, we offer severalpre-tests without registration to identify a potential giftedness.
You can also find more information, resources and tools on Giftedness in Mel POINAS‘ book. With a lot of humor, Mel tells the story of the discovery of her giftedness and the routines she put in place to finally find her place!
Le livre
Écrit par une HPI !
Un témoignage et des solutions concrètes pour découvrir, comprendre et apprendre à vivre en étant HPI.
To go further, you can read
- Personal development
- Gifted, learning to manage your fears
- Learn to let go!
- Trusting yourself when you’re a zebra
- Characteristics of High Potential
- The best books about High Learning Potential
