Hi Schaps, and All here.
I am an elder woman who in January 2011 learned I am a Gifted Adult. I learned this about myself from a Mental Health Therapist, who is gifted herself. I accidently found her. I intially chose to see her because I had decided that problems with my parents were due to their having narcissism. I needed help with understanding how to cope with them better. One of her specialities is narcissism. Her help helped.
It happened that in addition to her speciality of narcissism, her speciality was and is also in Giftedness. Her name is Lisa Erickson, of Seattle, Washington. You may Google her name, and read one of her webpages that decribes Giftedness. I still visit her now and then. Her tune-ups help me alleviate the natural build~ups of muscle tightening feelings. The tensions are caused by my feelings that include being frustrated over being misunderstood, isolated, impatient, stuck, trapped, and more regular run-of-the-mill feelings of being a unique and rare Gifted Adult.
About your request to discuss challenges for gifted adults: one of the life-changing challenges for gifted people is finding a therapist nearby that understands what it means to be Gifted, and who is highly skilled at this.
Everyday daily challenges that I run into include finding and interacting with people who I can "let it rip" and be intense with. I crave and completely enjoy being with people with a great sense of humor, and who can welcome even talking about the mystery of death, the afterlife and spiritual enlightenment. Most people, to me, are over the top way too too serious, and too too too focused on Just Getting By. Most do not even look up or around to see the Big Picture of why we are here ~ which is to love and be loved.
How do I cope with feeling like I have duct tape tightly shutting my mouth and clinching my heart? I look for and find others I can have spirited (pun intended)
discussions with -- like those who may be found here online, or in the presence of therapist Lisa Erickson. I can even "let it rip" a bit and be intense with my daughter and my grandchildren - who are gifted & intense in their own unique ways too.
I welcome discussing the daily challenges of being a Gifted Adult for awhile here.
