For me, school was always too easy. I never studied and yet aced tests. I was identified as GT in first grade and started with a GT program for my school district. In third grade I'd go twice a week by bus to a GT center in the basement of one of the schools. I was in heaven! Games like Risk, Stratego, and chess, computers (including access to the town's mainframes, oops!), other kids just like me. Still I rarely worked but it was fun. In those days (70s) we had open classrooms and contracts, so generally I'd do a pile of work in my workbooks and keep going. I was teased and thought I must be horribly ugly and unpopular. I was talented (not extraordinarily so but good) in music, playing cello, piano, and singing.
In junior high, no more GT program and honors classes bored me. My parents sent me to a top prep school (hated it) and even though I took whatever classes I wanted, I was challenged only in writing, where my teachers actually gave me dings for not being as good as I could be. I finished AP Calc as a junior and took Calc 2 at a local university at night after school my senior fall.
I did my undergrad at Cornell, where I quickly found that I was not nearly as bright as the mostly geniuses around me, but could hold my own. For once I felt normal and no one cared what grades I got or classes I took.
I still have a weird knack for remembering random bits of information, like what cardiac tamponade is. I have two masters degrees and my CPA, but grad school was a grind, like a marathon, and not very fun nor challenging. I'd rather do crosswords and math games all day.
I wish I wasn't so lazy, that I could really do something. I always feel that I'm not living up to my potential, but I suppose that part of that was my parents. I just want my kids to feel how amazing it is to let go and really soar. I've had some moments like that in my life and they were incredible.
