# Genuine Strengths and Weaknesses By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2024-08-02 There are genuine weaknesses and strengths, and then there are the socially constructed, paradigmatic weaknesses and strengths. We rarely distinguish the two, but the distinction is critical when one reflects and attempts to discern one's place within the world. Genuine strengths and weaknesses are what we've come to accept about ourselves in some way of being within the world. For example, my height is a strength in the world, enabling me to reach things others struggle to reach objectively. This strength can easily be classified as a weakness within the socially constructed world. For example, perhaps the culture associates those who can reach the top shelf as dumb and slow. My height is now a weakness, but only if I accept it as my genuine place within the world. While height makes the distinction more straightforward to grasp, it hardly touches the surface of the more nuanced strengths and weaknesses of our genuine or socially constructed existence and sense of self. At this moment, masculine features are considered strengths across the board. But are they genuine strengths? Only if the individual accepts them as such. Do the values taught in all the pseudo-scientific business books the real strengths, or are they simply socially constructed? How many ways are there to succeed and fail? How one views one's strengths and weaknesses might make a world of difference. #### Related Items [[Strength]] [[Weakness]] [[Perception]] [[Society]] [[Paradigms]] [[Reflection]] [[Existential]]