The Best Examples Of Someone Going From 'Genius' To 'Idiot'
Reddit user saigalaxy asked: 'What’s the biggest example of from “genius” to “idiot” there has ever been?'
My Father was considered a genius.
At 16 he graduated high school as Valedictorian, joined the United States Navy as soon as he turned 17 then was promptly recruited by Admiral Hyman Rickover's team converting the Navy from diesel to nuclear power.
He served as a nuclear and electrical engineer on naval vessels after the conversion project ended, then as a reactor inspector for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission after retiring from the Navy.
He also needed a full time babysitter in order to survive. Things like paying bills, buying groceries, feeding himself all escaped him. He lacked any semblance of common sense.
Really smart people doing very unsmart things isn't uncommon.
And sometimes a person is labeled a genius who's really an idiot with good brand marketing.
Reddit user saigalaxy asked:
"What’s the biggest example of from 'genius' to 'idiot' there has ever been?"
Gerald Ratner
"Gerald Ratner—made two ill-thought statements during a speech in 1991 in which he called his own products crap and lost half a billion GBP (1991 GBP at that!) off the value of his company overnight!"
"'Costs less than a prawn sandwich from marks and spencer, and probably lasts just as long'.”
“'People say, how can you sell it for such a low price, I say, because it’s total crap!'.”
"He said this to a room with a high number of journalists which took the story and ran with it. After this, anyone buying anything for a gift for a loved one from one of Ratner’s stores branded themselves as cheap, so sales plummeted.
"He was ousted as chairman within a year and they had to change their name!"
"Shooting your own company in the foot like this has since became known as 'the Ratner effect' or 'doing a Ratner'."
~ Taran345
Kary Mullis
"The guy that invented polymerase chain reaction (PCR)—which was ground breaking in early DNA research, got a Nobel Prize, though most probably remember it from the Covid days—went off the rails, denied that HIV caused AIDS even after it was scientific consensus and spent his time talking to a glowing racoon in the forest at night."
~ Lawsoffire
"The whole story behind him coming up with PCR was about him driving around San Diego while on an acid trip and while going through traffic he pictured DNA unwinding."
"Dude definitely took way too many drugs."
~ ChesterComics
"I've heard from people who worked with him that he was always pretty out there, did a lot of work drunk or high in lab even when a graduate student and post doctoral."
~ erehin
Linus Pauling
"Linus Pauling. He went from being a preeminent chemist and biochemist to a quack who wrote books claiming that megadoses of vitamin C cured all disease and was the key to an insanely long life."
~ battleofflowers
"He went on to promote crazy Vitamin C supplements that you just peed out."
"If you're taking Vitamin C for a cold, it's probably because of him and peer-reviewed research shows as long as you're not Vitamin C deficient, it's useless."
~ adenovir
John McAfee
"John McAfee. Not sure of the genuis part, but the downfall was legendary."
"He wrote and marketed the first commercial antivirus software after cutting teeth at NASA, Univac, and Xerox as a coder. Might have peaked around 100 million dollars."
"Then he sold his stake, told everyone to uninstall his company's product, retired, got into recreational drugs, lost tens of millions, possibly murdered a man in Belize...ran for President of the US, and then was arrested in Spain for US tax evasion."
~ Worried_Place_917
Elizabeth Holmes
"Elizabeth Holmes, founder of Theranos."
~ Random-Username7272
"She went all in on 'fake it til you make it' until enough people asked tough questions and it became obvious she was just faking it."
~ MossyHarmless
"Simple, it was pure hubris. Elizabeth Holmes, who didn't have a degree in any sciences, let alone a PhD didn't believe the experts when they told her what she wanted was physically impossible to achieve."
"She thought that she was gonna prove all of them wrong by duping lots of people out of their money and throwing it into her company. Then throwing money at lawyers to intimidate whistleblowers into fearing for their lives."
~ sharraleigh
"This is one of the situations where anyone with a science background looked at what that company promised and realised it was all a mirage."
"'We can fit the operation of a whole lab, and tests that take atleast a day into a little box, and it can do it all in minutes!! Please invest'."
"Riiiiiiight."
~ Konnichiwagwann
Elon Musk
"Even now that it's become more accepted to say Musk is an idiot, people still get incredibly offended when I compare him to Elizabeth Holmes even though 'autopilot' is clearly the same sh*t as Holmes' Edison."
"His other promises are also bullshit, but FSD is very much so Edison where the realistic timescale is anywhere from a decade away to literally never, but that hasn't stopped him from saying it's coming this year every year for the past 6."
~ Mezmorizor
"This is pretty much how a lot of people look at Musk's claims but thousands of people will get offended when you say it."
~ dbag_darrell
"Elon Musk comes to mind immediately. Well, he was probably an idiot the whole time but he had the veneer of a genius for a while."
~ crispier_creme
"I'll give him credit for his personal branding when he first became a household name. He had most of us fooled. I remember telling my wife, 'This dude is a genius! He's going to get us to Mars!'."
"Then he started posting on Twitter."
"And then I found out who he really was."
~ keep_it_kayfabe
"I was fooled as well. I can remember the exact time the veil started to lift too."
"It was when he called that cave diver a pedo just because they didn't use Elon's dumb idea for rescuing those kids in Thailand. It was all downhill after that."
~ Sabatorius
More on Musk
"Musk should be an example to never trust a hype man. Regardless of how sucessful they are, they are at the end of the day just a face to the actual work being done by hard working and intelligent people."
"People like Musk don't really do anything."
~ TacticalSanta
"He's only smart enough to hype someone else's vision and have other people complete it but then he takes all the credit, making it seem like he does all the work."
"For example, he keeps saying he founded Tesla when he didn't join until a year after it was up and running. And even then he joined as an investor not as an engineer or anything like that."
"He's constantly spouting his political opinions on Twitter as though they were facts and he's even getting involved in geopolitics by cutting crucial internet access to Ukraine when they need it the most."
"And speaking of Twitter, he had to eat his words when the SEC forced him to buy the platform after he kept trying to get out of it."
"Now 'the genius' is stuck with a 40 billion dollar company that's losing value because of his mismanagement and can't turn a profit, no matter what idiotic policy change he implements."
~ WHALE_BOY_777
"Why on earth would you remove the brand name off a brand you paid 40b for? The name Twitter, and Tweet, has value so you discard it for a name that will only ever have the suffix 'formerly Twitter'."
"It's like buying Coca Cola and changing it's name to X—it devalues the brand."
~ Monday0987
"Nah, he doesn't even have the vision. He just had money and says, 'let me get in on this'."
"Legit all his own ideas have been terrible. Hyperloop? A tunnel in which you can ride in your Tesla."
"Cybertruck? Looks terrible and he wants the metal panels to be at a smoothness that's physically impossible to achieve."
"Twitter? Well, just look at how big the dumpster fire became after he threw gasoline on it."
~ panatale1
William Shockley
"William Shockley led the team at Bell Labs that invented the transistor. That breakthrough yielded portable radios and hearing aids, and made computer microchips possible in the decades that followed."
"He essentially allowed computers to go from filling a room in a building to eventually fitting in a desktop and then in your pocket."
"He received a Nobel prize along with his team, and then spent the rest of his life spewing racism and eugenics garbage."
~ DoctorGarfanzo
"Oh, the BEST part is he wanted to set up sperm banks where people like him (the 'smart' ones) could donate and then women from the 'lesser' classes would be able to get some good smart boy juice."
"He was so full of himself he was overflowing."
~ The_Bred_Loaf
Rudy Giuliani
"Rudy Giuliani went from 'the man who saved NYC' to 9/11 'America's Mayor' to henchman sidekick—a la Renfield or Igor—overnight."
~ Yagsirevahs
"He was the media darling to win the 2008 Republican nomination. Turns out, people just didn't like him and he had to drop out of the race."
~ kevkos
Lech Walesa
"Lech Walesa—he posts the stupidest sh*t you could imagine on social media, always speaks about himself as a sole savior of the entire human race, everything, EVERYTHING is happening thanks to him."
"He is posting this on a Polish equivalent of Reddit, so people are just teasing him there to post even more of such stupidities and he always falls for that."
"On top of that he posts there his naked photos in a bathtub full of beer, posts poorly photoshopped posters of himself with other historical figures… basically the guy made a walking meme out of himself."
"And he is still giving lectures on European Universities as a special guest somehow."
"He is a Nobel Peace Prize winner, the face and one of the leaders of the Polish solidarity movement and a former president of Poland."
~ JustYeeHaa
Alexander Hamilton
"Alexander Hamilton"
"Genius by playing a deep role in developing robust mechanisms for the US government to operate from the ground up."
"Idiot by tarnishing his political career with openly admitting to cheating on his wife with a prostitute for months."
"Also stupid by agreeing to duel with someone who wanted to kill him, putting on glasses to show intent in winning, then pointing his gun away mid-duel and getting himself shot and killed."
~ RamblinGamblinWillie
Steve Jobs
"I think Steve Jobs was a marketing and sales genius."
"Then when it came to his treatable cancer ... well I wouldn't call him an idiot, but he placed his faith in the wrong person and his 'I always win' attitude cost him his life."
"He was unlucky to get cancer, but lucky that it was treatable at the stage it was discovered ... but he ignored his doctors and thought that changing his diet would heal him."
~ ClownfishSoup
Ben Carson
"In a previous job, some of our dumbest and most frustrating clients were doctors."
"I'm sure most of them were great at being doctors, but they couldn't seem to read or understand the fairly basic info we sent them and often asked the most stupid questions."
~ MildlyUnusualMax
"Ben Carson is the perfect example of the idiot doctor."
"He is legit one of the world's best brain surgeons. If you need brain surgery you'd be very lucky to have him as your surgeon. He's probably top 25 surgeons on the planet."
"However, the man put every skill point he has into brain surgery, and into no other skills of any kind. He's a moron in every other field aside from brain surgery."
~ Hyndis
"I'm still pretty convinced Trump thought 'urban development' meant 'secretary in charge of Black people', and that's why he picked Carson for HUD."
~ suitcasedreaming
Sam Bankman-Fried
"Don’t understand how Sam Bankman-Fried isn’t on this list yet."
"Dude was in magazines being called a prophet and genius, turns out he was just a f**king idiot the whole time."
~ strapped_for_cash
"The entire Forbes Thirty Under Thirty list is pretty much a bunch of smooth-talking scamming idiots."
"Sam Bankman-Fraud was also on there in 2021."
~ bart416
"It pisses me off that media still refer to him as a former billionaire. In what way was he a billionaire? The money he spent was all other people’s; FTX and Alameda Research didn’t even keep financial records, even Bankman-Fried had no idea how much money he had access to."
"Like if I take a piece of paper and I write on it that it represents one billion fudge tokens, then I take another piece of paper and write on it that it represents one fudge token and I convince my friend to buy the second piece of paper for a dollar, does that mean I’m a billionaire?"
"That’s the only sense in which Bankman-Fried was ever a billionaire."
~ superfudge
"To me that is such an Emperor’s new clothes scenario. It seems like he was never really that bright, but a roomful of investors thought he was a genius for no apparent reason and pumped him up."
"The story of how he took a call with investors while he was playing video games and half paying attention comes to mind. Apparently they took it as a sign that he was a real silicone valley whiz kid and invested heavily."
~ Anonbrowser22
Thomas Midgley Jr.
"Thomas Midgley Jr.—All his inventions—leaded gasoline and CFCs—were thought to be great contributions to mankind until we found out they were dumping crazy amounts of toxins into the atmosphere and burning a hole in the ozone layer."
~ creepysink77
"He f*cked up so much sh*t. All that lead screwed up several generations to brain damage."
"And its STILL effecting people. Lead gets trapped in your bones and as you age and your bone density decreases that lead is re-released back into their system."
~ Grogosh
"This is probably the best answer there is. They guy really, really was considered a genius, and now he's probably on the top five list of people without military or political power who has done the most harm to the world."
~ Imsdal2
These are pretty well supported examples.
Who would you add to the list?
People Explain Which Geniuses Alive Today Would Qualify As A Modern-Day Einstein
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the smartest of them all?
Who is today's best and brightest?
Are they in charge of Mensa?
There are a lot of brilliant people in the world.
But if we can compare; who measures up to the greats?
Two words: Albert Einstein.
The new generation.
Redditor jumpjoom wanted to hear some thoughts on who everyone thought might be today's greatest smarty pants.
"Who is the closest person alive to a modern-day Einstein?"
I know I'm not on this list. So easy place to start.
The Unknown
excited genius GIFGiphy"We probably don't know about them. They're probably buried in some pharma, rocket science, technology company and are content to do their thing."
believeTheError
"I know this absolute child prodigy genius of a mathematician that went to Harvard and was easily one of the best there. He’s currently a professor of a 3rd tier state college."
gigawort
Just as good...
"Even at the time Einstein was alive, it wasn't that he had the most powerful brain or best math ability (many surpassed him here). He worked on and solved some of the most outstanding problems in physics at the time. The late 19th/early 20th century was a special time for physics; classical physics was failing apart but how to fix it wasn't known - Einstein (amongst others) offered some ways to fix things."
"Tons and tons of people are just as 'bright' as Einstein by almost any metric but their work essentially can't as impactful. We're too many decimals deep into measurements now."
Jorrissss
"Emmy Noether comes to mind as a contemporary of Einstein who was easily a better mathematician than he was."
CoastingUphill
Impossible
"I’m going to give a weird answer: John Carmack."
"Just go read some of the things he has done and is doing. From inventing some of the math and programming that gave us the modern computer gaming revolution (this is the guy behind the original doom), to running a rocket company trying to achieve orbit and complete propulsive landings similar to what Space X does today, to dropping everything to create the future of VR."
"Now he’s immersed in AI research on top of everything else. The guy is a walking talking genius who sees things on a whole different level. He spent his whole career doing 'impossible' things in software and hardware. Whether you know his name or not, his work has had a real effect on all of our lives, and likely will be even more impactful in the future as we move toward a more virtually-centered life."
Exodi
Advanced Study in Princeton...
"Ed Witten..."
"American mathematician and theoretical physicist at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He received his Ph.D. in physics in 1976 from Princeton University. He has made landmark contributions to string theory from the 1980's to the present day, most notably the development of M-theory in 1995. He was awarded the Fields Medal in 1990 for his contributions to mathematics and mathematical physics"
Heap_Good_Firewater
It's all Relative
Good Witch Smile GIF by Hallmark ChannelGiphy"Thomas Einstein, Albert Einsteins great grandson."
XRomaniaIsInSomaliaX
"That dude is a doctor. Imagine living your life having people refer to you as 'Dr. Einstein.' I'd develop a superiority complex."
blue4029
Those Einsteins. They should do a sitcom.
Math Guy
Confused Thinking GIF by JKGiphy"Grigori Perelman the Russian mathematician?"
OverLurking
"My man solved the Poincaré Conjecture and just dipped. I love math and I tried to read his paper and I did not understand a single word. The surgery thing seems like magic to me."
Lufernaal
Tao
"Terrence Tao."
david_rohan
"Apparently a strategy, if you're stuck on a problem at higher level maths is to get Tao interested in what you're working on."
JVM_
"From his Wiki. His research topics include 'harmonic analysis, partial differential equations, algebraic combinatorics, arithmetic combinatorics, geometric combinatorics, probability theory, compressed sensing and analytic number theory.' Just look down the rabbit hole of any one of those theories or topics and your mind will explode."
KardelSharpeyes
And the family...
"All of the Tao siblings are terrifyingly intelligent. I had the pleasure of playing a concert alongside Terence's brother, Trevor. I perform my set and am feeling pretty good about myself, and then Trevor gets up and performs gymnopedie no 1, which is a pretty difficult piece, but the dude did it while solving a Rubik's cube. Needless i say, I, and all the other performers that day, felt quite upstaged."
Haverwolf
"Trevor Tao is also an international chess master and is one of Australia’s top players."
Askyourdaughter
Thought
"Miguel Nicolelis. He created the theory and proofs of the brain net, basically telepathy. Thanks to this he managed to create a machine that a quadriplegic could walk using the power of thought. And it worked. The power of thought From someone else for this quadriplegic to relearn how to think about walking."
DELAIZ
The One and Only
albert einstein GIF by US National ArchivesGiphy"In some fields, science can be so complex and multi-disciplinary that 100s of people have contributed to e.g. gene therapy, CO2 capture or other major contributions to society. So major discoveries can't be attributed to a single person. And most of this science, if published, generally needs affiliations to academia to be taken seriously."
"Einstein was truly one-of-a-kind from his multitude of publications in 1905. I'm 90 percent sure that he wasn't even affiliated with any university at the time. He did it solo, out of nowhere. This makes his discoveries even more impressive! Einstein experts, please confirm that he did in fact not work at a university in 1905. I believe he worked at a patent office."
TheGhettoKidd
I'm not smart enough for this thread but we applaud this next generation of geniuses!
Do you have anyone you'd like to add? Let us know in the comments below.
We are a quote heavy, self-help speeching society.
We thirst for leadership because honestly... life is dark and depressing.
How many books, speeches, essays and small "on the daily" quotes do we follow and take to heart?
Do you research every author of every quote?
You should. Or maybe you shouldn't.
Redditorcow780wanted to hear some inspiration from the worst people possible. They asked:
"Reddit, what are some great quotes by terrible people?"
Just because someone has wisdom, insight and charm doesn't mean they're kind. Evil comes in all packages.
Evil
Confused Daily Show GIF by CTV Comedy ChannelGiphy“'Do not compare yourself to others. If you do so, you are insulting yourself.'”
"-Adolf Hitler"
KornilovCoup
"'Believe in yourself, and you can accomplish anything your heart desires.'"
"- Adolf Hitler"
Alexis Carrel
"'To progress again, man must remake himself. And he cannot remake himself without suffering. For he is both the marble and the sculptor. In order to uncover his true visage he must shatter his own substance with heavy blows of his hammer.'"
"In the context of self-improvement it's a great quote about pushing limits and enduring pain or discomfort in order to grow. However the author of the quote Alexis Carrel was not speaking about improvement of the individual, but of humanity as a whole through eugenics and forced sterilisation of criminals, disabled people, and other 'undesirables.'"
ARXXBA
Gross
“'Decide that you want it more than you’re afraid of it.'- Bill Cosby"
vir804
"Man Bill Cosby is so frustrating. I feel like he did so much good while secretly being a slimy piece of garbage."
1CEninja
"Great quote until you realize that with modern context it's kinda disturbing."
Dracos002
Wisdom
“'Faith moves mountains, but only knowledge moves them to the right place.' - Joseph Goebbels"
227743
"The dude has SO many good quotes. Joseph Goebbels is what happens at the intersection of wisdom and evil."
kingfrito_5005
Smile
al capone inmates GIF by History UKGiphy"'You can get far with a smile. You will get further with a smile and a gun' - Al Capone"
Bombilillion
The villains always get the best lines.
To the Followers
Kool Aid GIFGiphy"'My whole life I have suffered from poverty and have faced many disappointments and pain, like a man is used to. That is why I want to make other people happy and want them to feel at home.' - Jim Jones"
SuvenPan
Murderer
"'Women hold up half the sky' - Mao Zedong"
maleorderbride
"My dad used to play that song when I was little. I always thought the line was, 'if you go carrying pictures of Trem and Mao.' I always thought there was some other guy named trem that I had just not learned about in school yet."
444unsure
"Mao killed 80 million of his own people and there are statues of him all over China."
bernahardbanger69
Statistics
"Stalin- 'A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths are a statistic.'"
jdownes316
"Another one by Stalin, often paraphrased as 'It's not who votes that counts, it's who counts the votes.'"
"'I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this—who will count the votes, and how.'"
_Steven_Seagal_
Ruin
"'Expectations ruin relationships' - Michelle Duggar"
"This one stuck with me and then I started to notice the most unhappy people I know are the ones with the most or highest expectations of others."
Beneficial-Cow-2544
"American hero worship is the worst thing. We have to lie about all, of amerikan history because our little snowflakes would melt learning the truth in school. Once you acknowledge that everyone is flawed, it's easier to accept reality."
Unlikely-Anteater-52
Gemini
david fincher fbi GIF by NETFLIXGiphy"'You gotta remember, if we're all God then we're all the Devil too.' -Charles Manson"
KwikTrist
Even the worst and most of us is can be brilliant. That's why evil can be hard to catch and easy to follow.
I love knowledge.
And I've always been envious of those that have it in spades.
I can't watch Jeopardy because it makes me sad.
Yet I love learning about all of the facts.
I've been told that power, much like ultimate wealth, apparently comes with a cost.
Make me believe it...
Redditor GoodDepthwanted to discuss the more somber life details about intelligence. They asked:
"What is the sad truth about smart people?"
I want an IQ of 180. But all the studying in the world won't get me there. Sadly... tell me about being brilliant!
Lost
The One Where Estelle Dies Episode 15 GIF by FriendsGiphy“Intelligence is like four-wheel drive. It just lets you get lost in more remote places.' — Garrison Keillor"
No-Faithlessness5311
Mastery
"The smarter you get, the more you realise you don't know."
Crafty-Ambassador779
"I've noticed there's something weird with this, though. If someone hits a certain level of mastery in one area, they seem to think they can easily be an expert in all areas."
"As an example I used to be a professional carpenter that did work on mostly high end builds. The amount of Doctors and Engineers that were suddenly master plumbers, finish carpenters and electricians and 'knew' more than me after a few days of research was infuriating."
TheIowan
"facts and logic"
"They have no effect on dumb people's opinions."
theboomboy
"Persuasion (like teaching) is definitely a separate skill from intelligence. You can throw around 'facts and logic' all you want, but humans aren't robots. And what you/they consider factual and logical, may not be so."
ncnotebook
"I’ve found that people don’t like to be persuaded by logic and facts if they don’t have any logical facts to back their stance to begin with. They much rather go off hysteria and what they believe rather than what reasoning led them to that belief."
Vaxtin
Crushing
"Our school system (Australia) isn't built to deal with them. It crushes bright kids down to everyone else's level. The usual solution is just to give them extra work to do on top of the assigned work, when they finish that too fast. But to a kid, that's a punishment. In this way achieving beyond a certain accepted parameter is quietly discouraged."
theexteriorposterior
fools and fanatics
hocus pocus halloween GIFGiphy"They are full of doubt compared to people who are not smart."
F**k-Reddit-Mods69
"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts. -B. Russell"
Paddlesons
So brains don't automatically equal brilliance and happiness... Who knew?
I Know what I Know
Think Season 2 GIF by NBCGiphy"Being smart enough to know you're right while dealing with people too stupid to know they're wrong is soul crushing."
Stryker2279
"smartness"
"There's different levels of 'smartness' and different smart people go about life in different ways. But, I think universally young prodigies are typically isolated. They are at a level far above children their age, but are far younger than the people that match intellectually with (lacking life experience). Either way, a young prodigy can't connect with either group."
Firamaster
Potential
"They don't always find ways of living up to their potential."
Immediate_Aioli342
"To add to this, they're often told they should live up to their potential simply because it exists. The number of times myself and some of my current MSC colleagues have been told we are wasting our potential by not being physicians is soul crushing."
"And demeaning because it implies that pursuing anything other than the hardest, highest paid disciplines is a waste of you, regardless of what makes you happy. Truly sad to see smart people in careers or lives they hate because they did what other people told them they should do."
TinyBabyAlli
I should probably go back to therapy...
"Expectations. Never learning to study until it is too late. Being forced to learn outside of your age related interests. Being terrified of failure. Not being able to balance ambition and said fear of failure. Once again, expectations. My mother put so much pressure on me at such a young age I couldn't handle it. I have done well for myself as an adult, but will never be able to live up to those expectations set by her and others. I should probably go back to therapy."
Putty119
Levels
Praising John Goodman GIF by The Righteous GemstonesGiphy"There are different types of intelligence. Being good at physics doesn't mean that you should manage people."
oliverismyspiritdog
Well I'm glad to only have average level intelligence. Who needs the stress.
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A lot of "gifted" kids go on to be very successful adults, but that is by far not the case for everyone.
Many find that their "gifted" status leads to higher expectations and less support from adults and they end up struggling in later years of school.
If people on Reddit are any gauge, "successful adult" seems to be the less common outcome.
Redditor Otherwise-Spread-557 asked:
"'Gifted kids' and 'old souls', where are you now?"
Nowhere
"Working a dead-end job"
- JedLeland
"Welcome to the club. I don’t have anywhere for you to sit because we couldn’t afford it with our sh*t jobs."
- beingapersonoverhere
"Damn, that's a pretty specific coincidence."
- lycanthrope6950
Therapy
"in therapy"
- SeveralOnion8752
"Unpacking childhood trauma and abuse."
- Benrein
"Learning the difference between genuine drive and passion vs a race against my crippling fear of failure and if I stop running I die."
- testsubject347
Burnout City
"burnt out and constantly on the edge of a mental breakdown."
- xBoopyBean57x
"Hey me too! But don't worry I was voted mostly likely to succeed. I guess succeed by not having a mental breakdown weekly."
- drunkdayzee
"Same… Burnt out, riddled with performance anxiety, depressed and too introspective for it to be cute."
- Amethystine_3702
"Oh hey. We're gifted though. Looking back on it now, I wonder if "old soul" was just another way to say traumatized."
- towalktheline
Successful, But...
"PhD and working academic with an impressive list of anxiety-related disorders."
- More_Movies_Please
"Post doc here (well, actually, post my post doc), working in industry. Anxiety doesn't go away and now I get to deal with imposter syndrome! Thanks, brain!"
- Jeremiah_da_Bullfrog
"Hey me too! I still love what I do, and I’d be anxious either way. At least now I can be anxious and get to play with sweet equipment and work with students."
- Aaaaagh
"That's my perspective! I might as well teach and do what I love since the anxiety has made my chest its forever home."
- More_Movies_Please
Doing Quite Well, Actually
"I'm doing ok, actually. I make a six figure salary, have my dream job in an interesting field, have a great partner I adore and I'm relatively healthy. And I'm debt free other than my mortgage, I paid off 70k of student debt with no help from anyone."
"Of course I dropped out of the gifted program because I'm dyslexic and my mom told me I 'wasn't smart enough' to do some academic stuff I was interested in, so I'm partially fueled by spite here."
- blue_effect
"Ah yes, delicious spite. What got me to the top of first-year chemistry when my lecturer told me I'd fail her class 😈"
- NewttheCat
"Nothing drives me to succeed more than someone telling me I CAN’T do something."
- Sanchastayswoke
A Doctor
"Doctor, albeit one with severe depression that needed rehab."
- TravelsByNightAndDay
"One of us. One of us. No rehab since i don't respond well to drugs... but rest are checked off."
- bobbi21
"ICU/CVICU/RRT RN. I’m the friendly, experienced 'big sister' people go to for advice, help, and comfort. I’m the one they call to talk to the scary doctors, unreasonable family members, and belligerent patients."
"I’m they one they ask to have the This Isn’t Going To End Well talk with loved ones when a patient is actively dying. I work 3 jobs, 60-72 hours a week. I hide from my inner self and oppressive depression by being endlessly useful at my job."
"Isn’t not satisfying, it’s not enough, it doesn’t make me happy. But at least have so much going on that I don’t have time to dwell on what’s in my head."
- Ennui_Having_Fun_Yet
Older
"Older, stressed out, battling various mental health issues and neurodivergencies, and pretty lonely."
- Winter_Cheesecake158
"Is this the price of too much self reflection? What gives?"
- Arpeggioey
"Same here. Didn’t know I was autistic til I was 31. Would have loved to have known that way earlier."
"I look back at most of my GT classmates and go 'oh.' Graduated in 98, lots of us were missed."
"Now I struggle, but I’ve been working in the arts the past 3 1/2 years and finally feel like I belong. I’ll never make lots of money, despite being in the top 1% of test scores back in school."
- sunsetcrasher
The Imposter Syndrome Is Real
"Dealing with imposter syndrome every other week."
- ledlin99
"Man, I really felt this comment. I just keep moving forward a little bit each day trying to become what I think I should be. It turns out most of the others are doing the same thing."
-Manuel_Snoriega
"Oof, I feel this sh*t in my SOUL"
- MotherOfPiggles
Why Try
"Ok, by most measures. Work is boring, but stable and lucrative. I live in a modest house with my wife and our cats and am happy."
"I don't feel that I've lived up to my potential, but I got tired of pushing to be better and do better when no one around me seems to care to do the same. What good is it trying to do something novel and exciting at work if no one else is on board and you have to spend years building up influence and power to make even something small, but obviously best practice happen? Oh well."
- ScarySuit
"I definitely feel that. When I was younger, my classmates would jokingly refer to me as the person who would find the cure to cancer."
"My teachers were always pushing me aim higher and speculating on what I'd do with my life."
"The hardest realization I've had to make in my adult life is that I'll likely never do anything groundbreaking or particularly special in my career."
- deez-t*ts
Pretty Darn Great
"Happy, peaceful, content. Curious, engaged, enthusiastic. Found a good life, but it wasn’t by striving super hard for material wealth and status."
- sat-chit-ananda108
"I’m another happy old soul! Curiosity is key. All we need to do is grow and have fun in life."
"Old soul tiny kid. Now actually old. Had a bit of a tough time emotionally in my younger life, I was just overly sensitive and perceptive which caused all sorts of pointless angst. Things got way better over 40!"
- ohnobobbins
"I feel the same. I am not overly ambitious, and probably look from the outside to not have reached my potential (yet), but life is a long game and I am genuinely pretty content most of the time."
- greygreenblue
Being "gifted" definitely doesn't guarantee success, but happiness is out there.
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