(14th Entry) “Learned Helplessness”

I don’t know why I’ve been thinking about this phrase. I’m not really for sure when or where I picked it up, but…

L E A R N E D H E L P L E S S N E S S!!!

It seems to me that most people want to do, be able to do, try to do… everything that they possibly can. I’ve found that most people like to be self sufficient, to be able to take care of themselves… physically, financially, emotionally, etc.

What happens then? Why do some people give up? Why do others choose not to do things for themselves?

I’ve always thought this phrase “learned helplessness” says so much. Call me naïve, but I think most people start out life with a great desire to be successful. Over time, things happen. We either keep fighting, persevering or we acquiesce to life, to our circumstances. We give in or maybe take what we perceive as the easier way. My 5th entry, “Things Happen for a Reason… Or Do They” touches on this. But there’s more.

And then again, who doesn’t want to take the easier way or have people do things for them? I can be very lazy at times. But… I can also be very stubborn, persevering. Just tell me “I can’t”!


I wrote this earlier and now am coming back to it because I didn’t know how to continue. In my head I so clearly see this concept. In my own life… people will say, “Let me do that for you…” or “Wow, I can’t believe you do that” or “If I were you I would take advantage of…” or … We start out ambitious and then we’re given a way out. It’s ok not to… There’s really no expectations for you to… There’s help out there for that. You don’t have to be responsible for that. The list goes on.

Have you ever had an employee and told them “no” twice… after that they never tried anything new or took any risks again. It’s as if some people persevere through anything and others give up after one or two adversities. Others go through long periods of tragedies and surface after years of despair.

Learned helplessness… The goods news is… that the opposite is true as well.

Some where, earlier life, I had this concept or idea in the back of my mind that since I had accomplished so much that people said that I would never or could never do, then life should be easy. Someone was going to come along and take care of everything. In a way that did happen, just not as I expected. Somewhere along the way I became that person. For most people it’s just called growing up. For some of us, extenuating circumstances prolong or distort this aspect of life.