# How do you see yourself? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 14, 2016, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-yourself/752155 "2016-04-14T01:24:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-yourself/752155/41 "2016-04-15T01:38:37Z")
> [@CCitizen](#): > > Thank you for sharing. My parents wanted me to be in STEM which I mostly **hate with passion**. And even though I have been pressured into getting a PhD in Math, I have very little income and I have not achieved anything. I can empathize a little, my friend. But that being said, as I understand it, you and I come from very different backgrounds, abilities, and choices available both perceived and actual. I achieved my childhood goals unconsciously, I was only trying to keep me and my family from starving, mostly. I’d pick the interesting looking jobs when I could and do stuff I wanted to when I could also. as others have said, if you want to be a write, then why not write? Many are the threads I’ve seen here on the Dope asking for critical evaluation(we all know how critical people on the boards here can be;)), help with research and details, opinions and the like by people writing stories. So, you are a Russian Jew Immigrant to the United States (now a citizen) aaaaannd you can’t write the Great American Novel why? Sounds like the exactly perfect background for writing said novel to me my friend. I do admit some bias though as one branch of my family tree came from Russia. Anyway, why not try it as a hobby. And if you write something you think is good or people tell you they think is good, it seems, but I don’t know this factually, that self publication seems to be a very popular thing these days. ---
**Author:** ![spamforbrains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@spamforbrains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spamforbrains)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-yourself/752155/42 "2016-04-15T02:45:20Z")
My dog loves me. Sometimes I manage to complete my daily to-do list. I haven’t killed anyone, at least as far as I know. Good enough for me. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-yourself/752155/43 "2016-04-15T02:58:22Z")
I tend to think of myself as raw materials as oppose to a refined product. I feel ok about myself as far as the raw materials I was given. I was probably close to 50 years old before I started stepping outside my comfort zone socially and attempting to mix with the kind of people I found interesting. I get slapped down on a regular basis but have enough successes to keep me in the game. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-yourself/752155/44 "2016-04-15T08:10:07Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > So the bathroom scale lies?.. The bathroom scale measures weight, not value (and no, not mass either). ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-yourself/752155/45 "2016-04-15T11:24:08Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > The bathroom scale measures weight, not value (and no, not mass either). . . . some settling may occur. ---
**Author:** ![Emiliana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@Emiliana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emiliana)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-yourself/752155/46 "2016-04-15T11:56:27Z")
> [@CCitizen](#): > > I mean I am more closely related to Franz Kafka then to any American writer. > > He turned great anguish and desperation into great art. Well, there you go, you’re already half-way there. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-yourself/752155/47 "2016-04-15T13:50:05Z")
> [@CCitizen](#): > > You can only see the outer part of your body – not your soul. I can. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-yourself/752155/48 "2016-04-15T14:36:30Z")
In some senses, I have achieved my ideal – I’ve become exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up. But I also need to achieve much more in the field. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-yourself/752155/49 "2016-04-15T15:06:52Z")
Sure, I have a beautiful wife, a wonderful son, a bunch of friends, a great high paying job in Manhattan, a car, a waterfront condo, additional rental properties and a vacation home in the Hamptons. But I’d trade it all for a little more. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-yourself/752155/50 "2016-04-15T16:10:17Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > I have achieved my ideal…sort of… I’ve proven myself in both my profession and my avocation. I’ve got a lot of good friends and a happy social life. I can write a story, a poem, and a song; I can draw a picture of, say, a bear, and people don’t say, “Um, is that, like supposed to be a horse?” > > If I die tomorrow, I don’t have any signal regrets. I’m pretty much the same. I’ve had the opportunity to do and learn more than I expected to, racked up more than my fair share of both successes and disasters. So dying at 50 years old, while unfortunate, wouldn’t be a personal regret. I haven’t achieved a final ideal by any stretch of measurement, but the rest of my life I can view as just as an opportunity for more instead of a make-or-break pursuit. ---
**Author:** ![CCitizen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@CCitizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CCitizen)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-yourself/752155/51 "2016-04-15T21:07:49Z")
> [@guestchaz](#): > > as others have said, if you want to be a write, then why not write? Many are the threads I’ve seen here on the Dope asking for critical evaluation(we all know how critical people on the boards here can be;)), help with research and details, opinions and the like by people writing stories. Thanks. Next week I am starting to write my third book. I have written my first two books. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-yourself/752155/52 "2016-04-15T22:57:59Z")
> [@CCitizen](#): > > Thanks. Next week I am starting to write my third book. I have written my first two books. Have you considered interpretive dance? ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-yourself/752155/53 "2016-04-16T11:26:45Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Sure, I have a beautiful wife, a wonderful son, a bunch of friends, a great high paying job in Manhattan, a car, a waterfront condo, additional rental properties and a vacation home in the Hamptons. But I’d trade it all for a little more. This. The sixties taught me I should renounce all material possessions. But I decided I should acquire as many as possible first. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-yourself/752155.md?page=2)