What makes a person extraordinary?

[KnickersInADrawer]

Tonight I met somebody whom I would consider to be extraordinary and it’s made me think!
A friend of a friend’s at a birthday dinner, the individual was a woman who is healthcare professional and has worked for NGOs in various areas of conflict. Afghanistan, Mediterranean refugee camps, sub-Saharan African states that I had never heard of but now I’ve googled and they’re listed by the FCO as absolutely not safe to visit!
I was just in awe. She was kind, intelligent, courageous and witty. I could feel a gentle dominance from her and you could just tell she didn’t take any shit at all. Not in career nor personal life.
I felt incredibly insignificant and like my little boring life is actually very selfish!
So how do extraordinary people do this? How do some people chase danger and thrive from it whilst the rest of us run? I wondered whether there is a different neuro pathway or something in such people! Maybe that’s the wrong term, but it seems that very few people are extraordinary and those that are, really are!
What do you think makes a person extraordinary and do you remember meeting such a person?

Sounds amazing. I believe it’s got a lot to do with continuing to grow and learn. Most people stop developing relatively early in life. People who are constantly learning have more synapses in their brain and are able to change the way they think and behave a lot more than most. The rest of us get stuck in our habits.

Agree with PP. Keep learning, find your passions, explore them, keep travelling, keep meeting new people both socially and professionally, keep exposing yourself to new experiences, keep reading, take yourself out of your comfort zone…

Above all, keep an open mind and always, always engage in critical thinking - this impulse is sadly lacking in many people. Keep asking questions.

I think some people are just born on a higher plane than us mere mortals. I'm pretty incapable in most areas of life. It also depends what life throws at you along the way.

Wow what an impressive lady. Real courage such as this is a very rare quality, most humans are somewhat programmed to always put themselves and their own comfort/ease first.

I think some people just have it in them and others don’t, I think such people are incredible and I feel so inspired by them but deep down I know I could never do what they do or be who they are. It’s nice to sit on the sidelines and admire though.

When you know that what you have had before is enough and what you will always have in the future is enough. Then you can do anything.

All very interesting points! It makes complete sense that such people have more synapses in their brain so can adapt to new situations.
Do you think being this way would make day to say life more difficult? This lady was single and it made me think, how on earth would you meet a partner who is also extraordinary? Surely most people would seem dull/lacking balls (for want of a better term).

Perhaps a very valid point from a PP regarding knowing what you had before and will always have being enough is something to consider.
I feel inspired but equally know I do not possess this natural dominance/fearlessness!

Having a great team of people that you have to be ruthless in culling on occasion.

Kindness
Compassion
Intelligence
Emotional perception
Independence
Innovative thinking
Courage and conviction
Comfortable in their own skin with no inner need to please others
Determination

I have a particular person in mind whilst writing this, they have weathered and overcome many a storm, but done so with such grace it's simply inspiring to watch.

they’re listed by the FCO as absolutely not safe to visit!
A bit dumb to go there if you ask me. You only get one life, why risk it.

I've been lucky enough to meet a number of extraordinary people, mainly through work. The one thing they all have in common is a high degree of focus on the outcome they want. It tends to drive them which means that they often do come across as a bit dominant. Most of them were lovely but they could all get quite impatient with the every day things that they saw as unimportant but still needed to be done in a sort of "bring me solutions not problems" sort of way.

Most of the women were single but some of the men were married and I often felt a bit sorry for the wives as they tended to have a bit of a picking up the pieces role. Not all were doing dangerous things. Some had just achieved massively in arts/politics/sport etc but they all had an unusual determination and focus on what they wanted to achieve and all had a ruthless streak about getting it. I imagine that if you were to go into a danger zone you'd need it as a weak link could threaten everyone but in other circumstances they could appear very harsh. Even the ones who were charming felt very much like an iron fist in a velvet glove.