Gifted Kid Burnout
What it’s really like to be the golden child.
Growing up, I was that kid. The one placed in to the gifted and talented at age ten and catered to through the education system for the next eight years. You know… one of the chosen ones. Constantly being told that the way I thought was “just different than the other kids.”
For the first seventeen years of my life, I never once failed. At anything.
I never got less than a 90 on a report card through grade school. I played varsity sports in high school, lead multiple clubs, volunteered, and kept over a 5.0 GPA. I was on track to graduate with an Associates degree along side my high school diploma. I also happened to be competing for valedictorian.
Was I exhausted? Absolutely. Did I care? Absolutely not. Every single person in my life had convinced me that it would all be worth it.
Guidance counselors told me time and time again how that I would have a beautiful, perfect resumé and every college would swoon over my application. They assured me that I would have a wonderful chance of my dream school, and if I chose to go to school in my state, I would go practically for free.
And so, walking into my senior year, my goals were high. Everyone in my life convinced me that I was special, that I was different, that I…