In reading through stories of other adult gifties on the internet, I came across a poignant recollection that could have been pulled from my own journal -- applying to both my son
and myself:
"... I had some really specific strengths - namely, learning things very quickly. For instance, I began while in kindergarten and progressed quickly, playing complex pieces by 2nd grade, with a minimum of practice and attention.
I continued to progress easily in piano until I got to the REALLY hard pieces and then I suddenly was overwhelmed. My facility for quickly mastering pieces all at once without laboriously learning them part by part was not helpful when I reached the point where that approach was no longer possible.
And then I found I had developed NO perseverance, NO skills for breaking things up and making them manageable. So I stalled, panicked, crashed and burned. And felt like a fraud.
This happened within every [realm of my supposed talents].
It turns out I had some major deficits in planning actions. I had always worked so quickly that I didn't have to reflect on how I did something or learned something.
Now as an adult I have no freaking idea how to do something that doesn't come quickly and easily to me."
I've never really been able to verbalize what has been bothering me all these years, but after reading this story, the proverbial light bulb popped over my head.
