Just yesterday I discovered the reason behind my infinite problems in life, and it's because not only am I a bit of an exotic being BUT because I'm also a neurodivergent. During my entire life I heard I was hyperactive, that I had Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), that maybe I had ADHD — anyways, people suspected I had a lot of things.
Turns out I have Giftedness. A bit funny, if you ask me. And that discover made me think, because silly me thought that people with this condition were genius, those who solve maths problems like it's nothing and they might be the new Albert Einstein or sum shi like that.
However, studying a bit about it, I learned that people with this condition are not always genius in math and science, and that "talent" can be very well directed towards other areas of knowledge and intelligence.
Being honest, at first I didn't believe in it. After I started being conscious about socializing, I thought of myself as a bit weird and off-center in comparison to other kids my age, dwelling in constant brooding because I couldn't understand them, and they couldn't understand me.
Not only that, but I got along with adults better. They had the "mindset" (not quite the word I wanted but ok) I had, they had an understanding of surroundings more profound, and I felt seen around them. I felt like I belonged to somewhere. It was great, but adults are busy people and can't always give you the attention a fellow kid would.
So, due to my incompatibility with them and the absence of adults, I started to isolate myself and started to spend too much time daydreaming about my interests in a imaginary world of wonder, forgetting about the present and a ignoring a proper childhood.
And that's also fcking hilarious because my high abilities ARE in communication and humanities (history, art, languages, that stuff).
It kind of saddens me, because I went to read other people's experiences and they share this trait of loneliness during their growth, precisely the phase of life where interacting with the world is extremely important for the brain.
Anyways, when I was reading about it, I realized that this condition didn't make me incapable of doing certain things, unlike other cases. Quite the contrary, it gives the kid too much information to process. Both the body and the brain are not ready for it, causing problems like anxiety, low self-esteem, isolation, overthinking, and can gradually lead to depression if not managed properly.
People with that condition are subjected to wrong diagnoses, since Giftedness and High Abilities can be mistaken with Autism and ADHD, and even take the wrong medicine, which is unhealthy for the body and can act like a drug in the person's system.
My point is that we (as in society) do not talk enough about this kind of thing, and it feeds an stereotype that unintentionally belittles individuals with these characteristics, when it's an barely-adressed situation where the brain proves itself way more interesting and capable than it's given credit for.
It's not like "omigosh we are soooo suffering and we NEED special attention", no. I just think that more studies about how this condition works and how a person can be born with it would explain better why some kids are a bit different from the others. Nothing too revolutionary, and maybe it can save them from some really bad experiences during their life! :)
Thanks for reading this yapping, I really don't know when to shut up ⚰️
