Our Strengths and Weaknesses are Interconnected.

I recently wrote about how the things we think of as our weaknesses might actually turn out to be our biggest strengths. 

For example: I have always collected books. As a reader, I not only buy books I’ll read right now. I also have books that are for the future, so to speak.  

If I am interested in one topic, I will have not one, but multiple books about it. I used to feel a little ashamed of this insatiable book collecting. I felt like I was a magpie always getting attracted to the next shiny object.

But as I wrote in this post, I did the Gallup StrengthsFinder test and realized that one of my top strengths has to do with being a collector of information. 

This solved the mystery of why I often feel like I HAVE to buy books that I won’t be able to read right away. What I am doing is collecting for the future. If I need some piece of information later on, either for myself or others, I have it with me.  

So, what I thought was a weakness actually turned out to be one of my biggest strengths.

BUT there is a caveat to this.

Sometimes, we CAN use our strengths like weaknesses. This happens when we use them defensively.

Sometimes, when I want to avoid intense feelings or want to distract myself, I go into information-gobbling mode. I guzzle up one thing after the other until my attention feels fragmented and torn to shreds.

Then, I am using an actual strength like a weakness.

This is something I have realized about strengths and weaknesses. Remember how it was when we were children? In school, you were probably good at one subject and “weak” in something else entirely. I was always good at languages. Math was my Achilles’ heel.

But unlike in school, when it comes to life, our strengths and weaknesses are not two completely different things. In fact, they are closely intertwined. The same thing that is a strength can also become a weakness when we use it inappropriately.

So, information-gathering can become information-guzzling. It can lead to clutter and distraction. Empathy can become over-empathy and lead to burnout. And if you are someone who likes to think deeply, you might also be someone who starts ruminating over problems when you are in a tight spot.

Even something like positivity has a shadow side. Sometimes, when someone is down, the empathetic response is not to try and show them the bright side of the situation but to meet them right where they are.

This close connection between our strengths and weaknesses is the stuff of fiction. The very thing that makes us strong can sometimes be our blind spot. In Game of Thrones, Ned Stark is Ned Stark because of his idealism. In the end, we can argue that it is his idealism that gets him killed.

So, there we have it.

Our strengths and weaknesses are closely connected. And we have to be aware of our blind spots when it comes to driving our lives forward with our strengths.

The same thing that makes us strong can also, taken to the extreme, be the reason for our downfall.