Why I hate being smart 2
Inspired by Simon Funk.
I find it nearly impossible to find people I can be intellectually intimate with. I can be open, sure, but since I’m smarter, it’s more of a teacher/mentor role (at best). As a result, I have even less of an idea about what intellectual intimacy feels like than I do emotional intimacy. And the smarter you are, the harder it becomes to find people you can relate to intellectually even among people as smart as you, since divergent interests and contrary conclusions become even more of an issue than for people that don’t think as much.
January 23rd, 2007 at 16:05
I know exactly what you are talking about. You’ve probably gone to ’smart kid camp’, right? Even there, you can’t help but feel like you’re the smartest because you know more than other people about obscure stuff. Sure, someone can solve a rubik’s cube and recite pi at the same time, but do they know anything about advanced calculus?
Your only way out is to find someone smarter than you, but that’s limited to teacher/student, again, or to find a good, smart friend, who can appreciate and understand your intelligence, and become closer to your ability in your specialty over time.
January 23rd, 2007 at 19:32
Actually, I never did go to smart camp. I went to piano camp (for very good pianists) and was average there. I tend to (I think) overestimate others’ accomplishments and think that they’re all so much smarter than me when really maybe I’ve accomplish just as much, but in different areas. Which means I’m afraid to try to make friends with them probably more than I should be.