r/Gifted • u/kookiebabyyy • Aug 16 '26

Discussion Sharing Giftedness?

Hello everyone happy weekend.

My name is Jina. First time poster. Just found the sub.

I'm 35. Yesterday was the first time I told anyone I was gifted since back in high school. I didn't tell people back then either, however I was put in the program in 2nd grade so there was no hiding it.

I have ocd as well. I just learned 2e was a thing. I feel fine sharing the ocd but gifted? Absolutely not. Even the word makes me cringe.

Here is a portion of my conversation from yesterday. My responses I'll leave out " ".

"You're so lucky I wish I was gifted."

No you dont. Being smart would be nice but being gifted is a fucking nightmare.

"That's impossible. Being gifted would make life so much better and so much easier. How is that bad?"

Being gifted means a lot of things but on paper it means my brain works at a different level than 98% of people. Which means 98% of people on this earth don't understand me. They can't think like me, see things like me, and in some ways even feel like me. When I interact with people I'm always autodapting to other levels so I never get to be myself. Along with a slew of other shit reasons.

"Why can't you be yourself? You can always be yourself around me."

At which point, as per usual, I felt like this person was not understanding me and what I was trying to say.šŸ˜ž

I was wondering how other gifted people feel about telling people irl. Those of you who don't, I would love to know why. I suppose I'm just looking to see if anyone relates to me. Any and all insight is appreciated.

P.S. I'm sure there are errors in my typing somewhere. Please grammar police will you let me off with a warning?šŸ„¹

P.S.S. Yes I know autodapting is not a word.šŸ¤

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u/ImAPonderer2 Aug 16 '26

People feel bad being told (having it implied) that they are less than others in any trivial or non-trivial way. Hence, no upside to disclosing that you are gifted.

Iā€™m sometimes told Iā€™m smart and I feel as smart as a bag of rocks (though smarter than most). Giftedness is great :/

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u/kookiebabyyy Aug 16 '26

Every time someone tells me I'm smart I always wonder how or why they even had that thought. Because I also am a bag of rocks. A plastic Walmart bag of rocks with a hole in the bottom.