I guess I just need to learn how to be in the moment more often.
On top of not being challenged, at every job I’ve had, I’ve had hours upon hours of idle time in my work week, so staying in the moment is slow death.
This is probably something that is hard to relate to unless you’ve experienced it first hand. Not even many gifted people seem to get it.
I do wonder though, if it isn’t the same people who fell through the cracks as gifted kids who struggle with underemployment and underachievement as adults. If so, it seems it would be especially unkind to simply kick them to the curb at midlife and tell them to get over it.
As for me, I grew up working class in a rural area and was told from a young age that college was beyond reach. I went anyway (first generation college student) and am still carrying the debt decades later, but I really wasn’t prepared for the white collar world and don’t feel at all successful professionally. I almost think I had too big a divide to cross in one generation and that my son is the one who will benefit most from all the tail-chasing, wheel-spinning, teeth-grinding work I’ve done.
I still struggle daily though, with how to make the most of the many hours between now and retirement.
