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There's Nothing You Can Do About It

Such Irony

Honor Thy Inferior
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Two questions:


How do you feel when you hear this phrase?

Do you think there are types that are most prone to using this phrase?


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To answer the first question, the phrase makes me want to cringe even though it may be true in some cases. I feel like all sense of hope has been shattered. Sometimes it can feel like someone saying it is trying to minimize the issue, especially when it's something important to me. I guess hearing the phrase really bothers me because I am so driven to improve the situation and find solutions.

I think people of all types use the phrase. I know I've been guilty of it even though I hate it when people say it to me. I only say it in situations though when I believe I have exhausted all options after a careful consideration. I suppose SJ types might be a little more prone to it. I'm guessing it's due to the inferior Ne so they might not see alternative possibilities as easily?
 

miss fortune

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I tend to take that phrase as a personal challenge... there IS something I can do about it and it will be done :2ar15:

it tends not to be a good idea to tell me that I can't do something :laugh:

I don't ever use that phrase... I'll tell them what they can do about the situation... no use in laying a guilt trip :shrug:
 

jryn1993

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Depends on the situation, but my typical response is "we'll just see about that, won't we?"

As to what types are likely to say it, I imagine J types would be more comfortable with the finality of the statement, whereas P types would generally feel stifled by it.
 

EJCC

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To answer the first question, the phrase makes me want to cringe even though it may be true in some cases. I feel like all sense of hope has been shattered. Sometimes it can feel like someone saying it is trying to minimize the issue, especially when it's something important to me. I guess hearing the phrase really bothers me because I am so driven to improve the situation and find solutions.
I hate the phrase for the same reasons you do. Feeling powerless to change something that needs changing, or to right a wrong, drives me absolutely nuts. I can't stand it.

I also dislike the exact phrase because when I've heard it used, it's been as a way of shutting someone down, when all they wanted to do was help. Doesn't seem fair to me. Of course, I'm biased, because when I've heard it used irl, it's usually been against me, when someone was venting at me, and I tried to problem-solve with them, when they didn't actually want a solution, but instead wanted to wallow in hopelessness. (Of all the people I've heard use the phrase, or variations of it, my INFJ mom is the worst about this.)

Edit: I just realized that I didn't fully answer the OP. When I hear the phrase, my first response is to be extremely skeptical (because everything has a solution) and pretty irritated (because I hate it when people make generalizations like that, at the cost of what is right), and then to either do research on my own to find the actual solution, or question the person with the information until they give it to me.
 

Lark

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I tend to take that phrase as a personal challenge... there IS something I can do about it and it will be done :2ar15:

it tends not to be a good idea to tell me that I can't do something :laugh:

I don't ever use that phrase... I'll tell them what they can do about the situation... no use in laying a guilt trip :shrug:

At the point at which I'm reasonable I guess I'd have to say that it depends on the situation but in the main my reaction would be the same as Whatever's here.
 
W

WALMART

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My natural inclination to just about anything in life is to take the polar opposite stance of what's being presented.


The other day a waiter recommended not ordering a particular drink, so I did.


Someone's expressing their feelings about something? I naturally wanna walk over and smack their opinion down like a tower of Jenga blocks.


Telling me I can't do something is exactly in this line of thought. I will do it or make an ass of myself trying.
 
G

Glycerine

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I think with most things, there is something that can be done. It's usually more about how much you want it.
 

Coriolis

Si vis pacem, para bellum
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How do you feel when you hear this phrase?

Do you think there are types that are most prone to using this phrase? [/B]
My first reaction to this phrase is usually: just watch me. At the risk of being a type snob, I would associate it more with S-types than N, due to N ability to brainstorm and think outside the proverbial box to recognize options that others hadn't even considered.

I am usually on the opposite side of this phrase, assuring someone else that there is indeed something they can do about their situation, if they are willing to make the effort, and take the risk.

I think with most things, there is something that can be done. It's usually more about how much you want it.
Exactly. People see more limitations than are actually there, and/or prefer to whine than to take action.
 

EJCC

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People see more limitations than are actually there, and/or prefer to whine than to take action.
The problem is when there's obviously something that they can do, but nothing you can do.

In my case, because I'm such a "doer" (much like you and whatever and Lark and others), it's usually pretty easy for me to find things that can be done, since I get no enjoyment from feeling helpless and I get a lot of enjoyment from solving problems and averting crises. But in most of the cases where I have felt helpless and like there really wasn't anything I could do about something, i.e. when someone has said that phrase to me and I've recognized it to be true, it's been when, even though I know what could/should be done, I'm not the person who can/should, but that person refuses to listen to me. OR if the person told me about a problem when it was far too late for it to be solved -- so, even though I knew what the solution would be, it didn't matter because the opportunity had come and gone, and no one had asked me for my input when it could have been useful. :dry:

This conversation reminds me that I really ought to have the serenity prayer framed on my wall. :laugh:
 

Rail Tracer

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Reminds me of the saying "this is reality." And how just because it is reality, you'd need to accept it. It is such a defeatist attitude.

Always makes me want to combat it with "If You Don't like Something, Fix It"... or somewhere along those lines.

Yes, Maya Angelou has a line that is similar, but not exactly the reference point I was looking for.

My natural inclination to just about anything in life is to take the polar opposite stance of what's being presented.


The other day a waiter recommended not ordering a particular drink, so I did.


Someone's expressing their feelings about something? I naturally wanna walk over and smack their opinion down like a tower of Jenga blocks.


Telling me I can't do something is exactly in this line of thought. I will do it or make an ass of myself trying.

You should not reply to this sentence about your quote.

:D

*waits*
 

Viridian

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Although I don't actually say it out loud, I'm quite often guilty of having a defeatist, "que sera sera" attitude. It just seems easier sometimes, to assume you're going to disappoint and be disappointed. :(
 
A

Anew Leaf

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I either take it as a challenge, or I take it as a "girl, you gotta accept reality here." Sometimes the former precludes the latter.

I don't think there is a type that says this more often. I think it depends on the motivations behind the phrase how it is meant that could correspond to type in an extremely loose way. T types are probably more likely to say this phrase as a means to convey the information of "given the natural restraints of the laws of thermodynamics here, there is nothing that can be done to alter this situation."

I don't think I use this phrase very often, but I could and just not realize it. If I did/do use it, I think it would be because I was trying to help someone come to peace about a difficult situation.
 

sprinkles

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If it's not true I'll prove it wrong.

If it is true I already knew it before they said something.

Edit: I've also used a similar phrase when appropriate but I try not to include the 'you' because that's kind of personal and almost accusatory at times. I'll say something like "there's nothing that can be done" or "we can't do anything about that" and I try to avoid it unless it's actually true and needs to be recognized.
 

Lark

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I'm repeatedly told that there's nothing I can do about attempts to reinvent norms along the lines of what's fashionable, its a bit like capitalism and a lot of other things I'm told I can do nothing about, I dont think I need to do anything about it, it'll play out and I'm sure it'll sour and the shit will hit the fan all I have to do is wait and remain unswayed by vogues and fashionable opinions.

There are things which anyone can do something about, being prepared for the likely fallout from bad trends and the consequences of attempts to integrate or operate things which are a mess of contradictions which their biggest advocates cant admit to for different reasons.

Some of them are basic, being prepared for major corrections in prices, shortages, failures in just in time market supply and the abscence of any state response or other stabilising factor and all that's known, in the case of the economy, and not adding to the cultural confusion which is mounting daily by refraining from talking it up, in the case of other things.

I've good reason to believe the things I think are seriously ill advised are ill advised, sometimes I state those for people who're genuinely interested, in the past I just stated them and think now that that's been a mistake because it provides space and a platform for further discussion of what's an error, the more that is done, the more air time, space or platform its given the more credible it seems so some people.

Its a good idea to have a sense of perspective too because there's no better way to burn out than to get an exaggerated view of your own importance or ability to determine or halt things, especially grand scale things, like I've said before anyones sphere of concern is going to be greater than their actual sphere of influence.
 

Coriolis

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T types are probably more likely to say this phrase as a means to convey the information of "given the natural restraints of the laws of thermodynamics here, there is nothing that can be done to alter this situation."
Pointing out the inevitability of the laws of physics is not the same thing as saying there is nothing we can do. It just means we have to design our device differently, so thermodynamic considerations are no longer an issue.

The problem is when there's obviously something that they can do, but nothing you can do.
Then I either try to force their hand if it affects me, or leave them to their troubles if it does not. I try to be helpful, but when someone won't even help themselves, there comes a point where it is necessary to cut one's losses and move on.

Now one phrase I do employ to good effect is, "There's nothing we need to do." By this I mean the other person is getting worked up about nothing, and what they are worrying about won't matter in the end.
 
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