Greetings to all,
I have to ask, do any of you feel a profound sense of isolation and lack of comprehension by others--especially parents and family members?
I am a "profoundly gifted" 22 year old in my senior year of college. Though I do have encouraging friends, I am quite frustrated with my courses and the majority of my peers. I expect more initiative and intellectual curiosity out of them, yet to no avail frequently. In fact, I write my syllabi because of the pace attempted many of my classes. While some professors have "taken me under their wing" and encouraged me through directed studies, I am rather tired of the befuddled looks (I recieved from others) and sense of rejection that I get even from my parents.
For example, I work out math proofs for hours on end and attempt to apply statistics to new fields, such as medieval literature. My parents and family members in turn tell me to "cool my heels" and "stop being so nerdy all the time". Often, I recieved comments growing up about how I needed a "lesson in socialization" by mitigating the time I spent perusing books.
They do not especially like or appreciate mathematics, statistics, or medieval literature--three fields in which I would like to delve further.
I feel as though my own family and many of my peers cannot understand me. What should I do and how can I overcome these feelings of inadequacy?
I feel misunderstood
I think you are a gift to the world. Keep reminding yourself that although normal people have their strengths, normal can never be amazing. You have the talent (and the duty?) to be amazing.
That said, I'm 43 and still struggling with the issues you raise. Only about 1 out of 20 people I try to befriend can actually stand to be around me, for lack of shared interest.
I am so glad I had the chance to move to another country where intellectual talent is valued. I found it is easier to make friends here.
One thing that helped me take the focus off of my feelings was to reach out to PG children and offer to mentor them in mathematics so that they know someone appreciates, cares about, and understands them. So far, every parent has been happy for me to be involved in their child's life, and I discovered one of the moms is also PG, so in the end I also made a new friend my age! I think there are some websites that match mentors to students. Might be worth a try!
