Hi,
I am not sure if this is the right place to post this. I think I am gifted. I went through a lot of my life thinking I was less smart, and less than, and different to others. I am discovering that I think a lot more deeply than others, I can see things others cannot (sometimes I don't have proof but I know its true because it's obvious).People don't like that because it looks like I'm complaining but it's not a complaint its an observation and I always think things can be better. I am very aware and I can "vibe" out situations very quickly. I think I'm "too much" sometimes with all the principles I live by. I did ok in school. I was bored mostly and I seem to have not understand any of the material. I did pass everything though using common sense. I speak a few languages and I play an instrument and I am highly creative. I also am great with tools. I am female so I don't have a lot in common with a lot of woman. I always felt that "jobs" were holding me back. I am underestimated and I have extremely high standards and goals. I am quite different in my thinking with most people I meet. I do not conform to societal pressures and that makes me a little bit of an outsider. Reading everything about giftedness, I think I might be. Not that it matters but at least I wont feel like such an outsider. I feel egotistical even thinking I might be gifted.
OMG FloFlo - I love what our other posters have to say, but I don't think their perspectives have anything to do with where you are at.
Giftedness is also an identity-group. It tells you why you have had the life experiences you have had (and your whole post could have been pulled out of the introduction to any number of 'why gifted kids don't have all the answers' type books, including feeling like you don't fit in the narrow confines of your gender-group) and give you a working model of how to make future choices that are better able to pay off. Choices about how to spend social time and about what kinds of work and hobbies to persue.
In the end, a group identity and model will need to be overcome, and one becomes 'just me' but that is AFTER the goodness has been rung out of the experience, not before!
Gifted adults also need guidance. Ruling out 'twice-exceptional' is very important. Meeting other people who share the identity and seeing if you feel more comfortable in your own skin while you are with them.
Giftedness isn't really about some monolithic measure of intelligence - 'everyone who is smarter than X go stand over there - you are gifted' and although ideally everyone who is gifted will, in time, translate their potential into real world achievement (talent), that isn't the world we are living in right now. Some folks are highly gifted in one area, and normally developing or learning disabled in in other areas. Giftedness is the interaction between having a kind of mind that is rare enough in your local world where there are expectations of how minds work that you are constantly running afoul of AND your internal reality leads you to 'step in it' over and over again.
Many of us come to the identity when we become parents and we see history repeating itself. It is much harder without the love of a child to pull us to face uncomfortable things. So I applaud you for your courage.
So welcome to the identity! Try it on and if it fits, keep it for as long as is right for you! See you an the next Gifted event.
Love and More Love,
Grinity
