Struggles of An Intelligent Person

 I recently saw a YouTube video titled "8 Struggles of a highly intelligent person". I believe that there are many types of intelligence. Some people are good at remembering things, others are able to solve complex math problems with ease, some people are good at building things, and some people are good at art, music, or sports. At a young age, we tend to gravitate toward what is naturally our strongest ability. I also believe that as we develop our intelligence, the area that we spend the most time on becomes our highest area of intelligence. Here are the eight struggles of a highly intelligent person: 

• You get bored with small talk. "Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." - Eleanor Roosevelt. Highly intelligent people avoid small talk, which can lead to social isolation. 
• You are careful with your words. People describe you as reserved or overly serious. In a group setting, you often find it difficult to contribute for fear of saying something few will understand.
• You are socially awkward. People with a higher IQ (intellectual skills) tend to have a lower EQ (social skills).
• You struggle to make good friends. The average person can't relate to a person with high intelligence. The maintaining a relationship is time taken away from intellectual pursuits. 
• You don't get out much. Being socially awkward, you prefer to focus on work and education. Because you find crowds socially uncomfortable, you simply avoid them.
• You are overly analytical. This can often lead to paralysis by analysis. You struggle with indecisiveness when you are trying to make an important decision.
• Your mind craves exercise. You prefer activities that engage your mind. You would much rather watch a documentary than a drama or build a puzzle vs. playing a group sport.
• You always feel pressure to succeed. With great intelligence comes great expectations. You must constantly prove your intelligence. There is often a disproportionate fear of failure.

As I reflect on myself, I can relate to most of these struggles. The only problem is that I would only consider myself to be of average intelligence. In school I achieved average grades in most subjects and below average grades in algebra. I was never successful at sports and my limited musical abilities are only a result of the time that I put into it. But after not being able to progress beyond the basics, I gradually quit spending time on it. Over the years, I worked at various tech jobs, always as a contributor and never in a management role. My greatest achievement was surviving nearly a dozen layoffs over my working years. Now, forced to retired in 2019 at the age of 57, surviving a pandemic and the resulting high inflation, are my latest achievements. 

The struggles listed above are factors that have limited my ability to gain promotions and greater wealth. I changed jobs only three times after tech school. It felt like more because of company mergers, but my job never changed much after a merger. Only one of my job changes was not the result of a company closing that forced me to look elsewhere for work. For my last job, I sold my house and moved to another State. That was a decision that gave me nine years of my highest income. But again, I was never promoted and stayed longer than I should have. I felt it was probably my last job, so I saved as much money as I could and studied investment strategy. I decided that my days of working for someone else would be over.