Highly intelligent people might seem to have it better through life, but this isn’t always the case. There are several difficulties and challenges only they will experience. Due to how they are raised and develop, they can also feel isolated.
Here are the top five struggles only highly intelligent people suffer from.
They are under more pressure to succeed
When someone’s intelligent, they tend to feel superior to other people. They can see and understand things that people around them can’t perceive. They become starkly aware of the direction their lives are headed and feel that it should head in a different direction than everyone else. These things include having a better career, more money and better relationships.
If anything they do doesn’t contribute to being more successful, they feel like they are doing themselves a disservice. The pressure they put on themselves grows. If their life doesn’t take the path they think it deserves, they criticise and attack themselves.
They find it harder to make friends
Intelligent people seek other intelligent people to befriend. When intelligent people meet someone new, they ask clever, seemingly innocent questions that help them identify whether the person is someone worthy of their friendship. Even if a potential friend has much to offer or similar interests, an intelligent person may be quick to blow him or her off if the person doesn’t display a level of insight into the world that matches theirs.
This means intelligent people tend to be lonely. They become used to being alone and find solace in their work. While this means they dedicate more time to making breakthroughs in their field, they are at risk of developing depression.
They suffer paralysis by analysis
Intelligent people like to be aware of all the pros and cons before making a decision. Knowing these can often stop them from making a decision altogether. That’s because they over-analyse and let potential “what if” scenarios get the better of them. This may also be because many intelligent people are perfectionists and just want to make sure they get the best possible result.
If they are leading a team or organisation, this combines for potentially disastrous effects. Imagine: you’re responsible for making the final call on the direction your company is going to take, but you can’t decide on what the core values should be.
This can be frustrating and crippling.
They are trapped by their intelligence
There are several instances of intelligent people feeling helplessly trapped by their intelligence. For example, intelligent people don’t typically have trouble understanding anything. If they attempt to teach someone and the person doesn’t understand, they can’t proceed. They find it difficult to empathise and lack desire to help others understand.
Additionally, others may resent intelligent people. Anything the intelligent person says sounds pretentious, when really, they’re just stating the facts. This makes socialising unnecessarily hard.
They find it harder to be happy
Intelligent people feel cursed by their intelligence. They often think about the saying, “ignorance is bliss” and wonder if it would be better if they simply weren’t so smart. But by pretending to not be so intelligent, they feel like they’re not being true to themselves. All the overthinking they do on a daily basis can lead to anxiety in social situations.
Happiness comes from accepting the universe exactly as it is, but when you can’t help but over-analyse the world around you, it’s almost impossible to simply let yourself be absorbed by the imperfect beauty of what’s around you.
What did you think of these five points? Have you experienced them? Do you have any advice for people looking to overcome these struggles? Share this list with your friends and see what they have to say!
Source: lifehack.org