Potential

Someone said recently that for me was like a wow moment.  “humans are the only plant or animal that does not potentially reach its potential.”
Seems true to me.  Plant a tree seed and it will become all it can be.  Sometimes the environment it grows in is not ideal but inevitably it will be all it can potentially be.  It is the same with say a leopard.  From a baby it is inevitable it will be all it potentially can be.
Not the same with humans though.  My environment may be toxic and detrimental to my development.  Yet I have a choice.  Stay in a toxic environment and potentially milk it for all it is worth to my advantage, or get out of it and reach further than I ever could have.
I have found that it is sometimes easier to stay with the familiar than it is to move out and move on.  Fear in my mind can be a great motivator.  Especially if I am a big fish in a small pond.  Being a small fish in a big pond can be fraught with danger.
Yet to me it can be that very danger that promotes my growth.   There is no motivator like having to.   I see it with many species of fish born in the ocean.  They hang around the mangroves.  They do not venture out until they have a bit of size and have learned how to deal with potential threats.
It is the same for me.  I reckon I would be pretty silly to take on the best of something without having learned how to win against lessor opponents.  I saw it in table tennis.  Players started out and they learned how to win against players through the grades.  Eventually they made it to the top grade where they played the best.  Potential and actual can be two very different things to me.
All fish who graduate from a small pond to a big one, have a potential beyond their current ability.  Yet only a few go on to achieve their potential.  They want it.  They fight for it.  Potential becomes actual.
To me there is no shame in not achieving but it is a great shame not to try.  So often coaches tell players. “don’t leave anything on the playing field.”  That to me is the bottom line.