From Little Things Big Things Grow

I have enough trouble figuring myself out.  What chance has anyone got really?  When someone else has a go at me I am likely to get my back up and insist I am way better than the other makes out.  Yet when it comes to self-talk I am likely to say “I am no good” or “I can’t do it.”
To me a realistic self-assessment does not mean putting myself down or denying what I may in reality be good at.  It seems there can be a false humility as work.
To me a realistic self-assessment involves recognising both my strengths and weaknesses.  It is not overstating either what I am good at or what needs work.  In fact just as an aside I often think it is my strengths that can cause me the most trouble.  I know I need help when it comes to weaknesses, but it is so tempting to say “I’ve got this” when it comes to strengths.  It seems to me it is often that sense of self sufficiency that can send me up the garden path.
I am so familiar with the old “garbage in, garbage out” scenario.  I so agree with that but within confines.  Ok it may be healthier for myself and others to have good stuff in, but honestly if it is only true in a confined, walled world then to me what’s the diff? It is good to be nice but when it is of no eternal consequence it has no long-term value.  Someone who was nice to another 5,000 years ago would have felt good at the time but feeling good would have only been for that time.
A realistic self-assessment is a good thing to me, but any good I want to have eternal consequences.  To me this 70 years or so is just the beginning.