MyGiftedLife
Where Brain Meets Life
OK, so I'm gifted. What do I do now? Just a thought on how to approach it.
OK, you might have decided you're gifted, your brain is a high-performance sportscar rather than a lumbering SUV, and you'll be more confident shouting out the answers to the television on the next gameshow. But what does it all mean?
Since this is an existential and philosophical question, what I'm going to offer is an opinion, just some thoughts.
The significance is in the word you. In my opinion, deciding to change careers or take up painting or even switch to a harder sudoku book is not the next priority. The label gifted is just a word. If you are gifted after the label, you were gifted before the label. What internalising that label did for me is to change the way I looked at myself, what I could do and what I want and need. I'd been labelled gifted in childhood and it didn't mean anything. It took an epiphany of seeing myself through a description written by someone else years ago to make me realise that I was different because I am who I am. That's when I really stopped wishing I was normal.
Being gifted is about abilities you have as well as your wellbeing, just like any other part of you. If you suddenly discovered you had an amazing arm, but it got quite sore in cold weather, you might take up baseball pitching as a hobby or being a lumberjack as a profession, all depending on what you discovered that your arm was good for. You might also avoid having a sore arm by dressing warmly in winter. It's all about discovering your strengths, playing to them and making things easier for your weak points. One thing that can make it a bit harder to see is that you're on the inside of your brain. Your arm doesn't contain your personality, so it's a bit easier to look at it objectively.
Some people feel that gifts are meant to be used for a reason, to help others and humanity. While I agree with the drive to help others, I don't personally feel that a meaning or mandate is imposed. But this doesn't stop us from making it a priority to help people, because that drive may be part of us. If we do things because we believe strongly in them, then in a way we are doing them for ourselves because we feel that need. I'm not criticising altruism, I'm just saying that if altruism is part of our identity, then we can pursue it as part of our own wellbeing.
I think that if we explore what giftedness means and what kinds of things we're good at, we each develop our own ideas about what to do with them. And we can pick up ideas on how to avoid things that cause us stress or discomfort, like preparing against disorganised situations or why a simple background noise that no one else can hear can drive us balmy. And of course your individual focus might be on career prospects, creative outlets or sharing more of your life with others -- these things are all interlinked... through you.
It's even more simple than it sounds, but more involved in practice. To my mind, it's like an interest in learning anything else about my health and how to take care of myself in order to do more and have a happier life.
This is of course all opinion, so please feel free to disagree or add something because doing so helps the cause of offering more points of view to future readers.
Tags: existential, gifted, where to start
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Gwyneth Wesley Rolph on
-
I think for me the process went something like:
- Running screaming from the school at the earliest possible age.
- Suspecting that I was somehow "different", but unable to place how exactly.
- Being tested, and going through the whole gamut of emotions (shock, denial, etc.).
- Finding out (years too late) that in fact my giftedness had been on record since Infant school, but that this information had been squashed and suppressed.
- Frustration that I hadn't been appropriately educated and provided for, at an age when it would have made a difference.
- Wanting to do something with my abilities, but finding my efforts rebuffed because I wasn't academically "in the club" (a situation which I had no finances, or the time, to repair).
- Finding my way into various online fora, where at least I found small communities who understood that life isn't always what you make it, when you're outnumbered and obstructed by folks who can't or won't understand, and it's more than their job's worth to co-operate with someone who's a little different.
- Sitting out in the wings in brooding disgust at the ostrich-like state of the human race.
So many fields are a closed shop. It's one thing having the abilities, interest and desire to contribute in some meaningful way, and quite another being able to bust through all the bureaucracy and "glass walls". Try being taken seriously as an academic when you're self-taught. Try getting a record deal if you don't fit a certain "image". The list goes on.
-
Permalink Reply by spiritj on -
Hi Dan,
I appreciate your having included the concept of sharing (or altruism) in this thread. Certainly more people need to know about the extra-intellectual aspects of giftedness.
For me, being gifted is a bit like being a wellspring of consciousness. Just as there are natural hot springs and cold springs, each of us was born (or gifted) with natural ability in certain areas--as well as a naturally-occurring "temperature"-- or in human terms, a temperament.
When that wellspring of consciousness and natural temperament are respected and allowed to run their course, I believe that they posses the potential to serve as the proverbial "living waters" often referred to in scripture.
For me, being gifted is also about the ability and the need to see patterns--to look at the forest as well as the trees...and find fractals. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/physics/hunting-hidden-dimension.html For me, being gifted is being able to see the interconnectedness of things: it is the ability to discern even certain hidden, "invisible" things.
The temperament and the need to know provide the drive for discovery--for synthesis and invention--for creativity. When developed responsibly, I also believe that the high-functioning, sensitive temperament can fuel the drive for generativity and altruism.
From a spiritual perspective, for me it is the equivalent of unearned grace--although our naturally-occurring strengths and personality quirks can certainly be cultivated to self and/or social advantage.
To be gifted is not to be without fault, weakness, or vulnerability. For me it is learning what constitutes intelligent and ethical behavior, given the human condition--and then attempting to live accordingly.
-
Permalink Reply by Daffodil K
A community for support and fellowship for gifted persons, those close to them and associated professionals.
Groups
About MGL
MyGiftedLife.org is not a high-IQ society or corporate entity. MGL is not a business, nor is it a formal charity. We do not currently operate on any grants or fund-raising. Our mission is to provide a place where people can provide fellowship, encouragement and information to each other when needed.
MGL is for gifted persons and those involved in their lives, including parents, families and friends. Educators, psychologists and other professionals are welcome, as are others who may simply want information about giftedness.
Mygiftedlife is a safe haven. It's a place where anyone who experiences life from a gifted perspective can share their unique selves and weave a common thread going beyond the tapestry of any usual forum to one based upon expanding awareness of experiences, self, others and the world we live in. Mygiftedlife is a place for delving deeper. I've come here and been understood when that seemed impossible. Gifted people and those advocating for gifted children navigate societal structures that present a great challenge. Support can be hard to find, but here it is.
"Hey, all the inane shallow chatter about stupid stuff at other forums got you down? Come here for more in depth and intelligent discussion about things that actually matter."
-- MedleyMisty
Badge
© 2012 Created by Dan F.
Powered by
