I will take a look at your link thank you. I wanted to answer your questions to open the discussion up some more.
As far as I've been able to tell I am the only gifted one in my immediate family. For the most part they "get" me. But it took them a long time. When I was a child my family interpreted my gifts as troublesome and uncontrollable. Now they think I just like to be by myself and that I have a very dry sense of humor. It's progress at least. I work at making more of an effort to spend time with them, and talking.
I have good friends. They each have different qualities I admire. And I have talked about it with them in various conversations. And while they can see how the perception manifests, they tend to advise that it is just because other people don't know me well enough.
In school I masked a lot of it with being social, and talking about common things. And while I may have been at some point perceived as pretentious when talking, it was never brought to my attention. I might not have cared how others perceived me, or I might not have come off that way.
What did change from high school until now. I felt that I did a lot of masking and disguising myself during that time, and as I grew and matured I wanted to be more myself. So as I have settled into me being me, and becoming more confident, and self assured, that is when the feedback started coming.
When I go back into my shell and "fake it" again, people think I'm wonderful and the greatest thing ever. Since I am really only judged on my performance and contributions and not my attitude or personality.
I guess the question I am asking myself; Is just being gifted enough to make others perceieve you as a knowitall when you talk. Or am I just doing a very poor job at representing myself.
Thanks again for the response. It helps a lot just to talk. I will check out that link now
