<p>You mean the normal type of happy, or the fat, dumb, and happy kind?</p>
<p>Many of Skinnyman’s points are proven in research of gifted people. It is a tough life for gifted young people. They are overwhelmingly introverts (about 70 percent) and often suffer because they have no peers. Additionally, if they are not in a school that values their differences, it can be pretty bad. For example, profoundly gifted students may be overexcitable–they over-react to disappointments and may cry or exhibit some other behavior that is misread by those watching. Teachers and counselors who are not trained to work with gifted kids don’t know what to do and often do the wrong thing. Being smarter than everyone else has some disadvantages that most of us (myself included) just don’t understand. There are some great books out on the subject of giftedness.</p>
<p>I believe that “smartness” (as measured by GPA) could actually be caused by unhappiness, not the other way around. A student could work harder to avoid making waves in his/her dysfunctional family, or an insecure child could use grades to compensate for social or emotional weaknesses. I’m not saying all intelligence comes from an unhappy childhood, but it’s more prevalent than most people realize.</p>
<p>If people have a bad childhood, they usually don’t excel academically. MOST top students are from stable households.</p>
<p>^Okay, maybe people who grew up in unstable families don’t often become stellar students. But that doesn’t mean those who do had happy childhoods. Do you really believe that it’s just a coincidence that intelligence so often corresponds with introversion and social awkwardness? I don’t believe that it’s because kids are teased for having higher grades, or that gifted children are arrogant enough to believe that they’re “too smart” to relate to their peers. I’m not saying unhappiness ALWAYS leads to higher grades, or that ALL smart people had this sort of background, but it does happen.</p>
<p>Woami, thats very intelligent for you to notice since you claim you are not gifted… but i am considered gifted or have genius IQ. but i am very gifted in many areas i happen to be one of those people that can be good at anything i wanted to be good in… but i pay a huge price in this gift as does any gifted individual. i often find life hard and often get really stress and angry as to why people behave the way they do, and why they cant see faults, and why they cant see that doing the things they do is stupid and they will only regret it after theyve done it… i have trouble understanding why people can be so cruel, so immoral, and without justice and evil, but yet not consider what they do as evil…</p>
<p>and i also have the talent of reading people that is why i am very impressed with what you said… because people do begin to form in groups, and there are only really so many different types of people in the world… other people cant see that but i can… and what they do and say becomes very predictable and boring, and being gifted im easily bored if people are not giving me new things and being creative… and i have to live life like this feeling like i am alone, cause only 1-2% of the population are like me.</p>
<p>it really annoys me cause eople like me can see things others cant, and make links with things people dont even think are linked but they are… i am rarely wrong i always find 99% of the time things i predict , see or think is right!! but when you live in a world where only 1% of the world can see what you see… i am always wrong… </p>
<p>i hate being me. people dont realize how hard it is for more intelligent people… we reap the price we pay for our intelligence in happiness and loneliness…</p>
<p>Smart/gifted people can be as happy as anyone else if not even more so long as they understand their place and what to say or do at the appropriate time.</p>
<p>On the contrary, I think smart/gifted people are more happy. They’re naturally talented, so they don’t have to work as hard - more time for fun stuff, right? 
You just have to have the right mindset, IMO</p>
<p>Being gifted was great from like 1st - 7th grade, no studying and A+'s. I was able to challenge myself at home and taught myself everything on the internet. But once I got to 8th grade maybe I began to have to put in a good deal of effort on things I didn’t really care about and no longer had time to put any effort into things that I loved which has really caused me to be unhappy. I celinged on an IQ test in like 6th grade so you would think everything academic would come naturally, but it doesn’t very frequently any more so it’s really not much fun.</p>
<p>Raiderade, that’s weird. What classes have you been taking?
Because mine all seem to require the same sort of logic/deductive-reasoning/memory/what-have-you that IQ tests are based on.
Most of the gifted people I know still have to spend time on their homework and essay-type stuff, but they can ace tests without studying. Which saves a considerable amount of time. Plus they finish their hw more quickly. I still think being gifted is great, cheer up :)</p>
<p>^
CanaryK, exactly. Since we can finish our schoolwork (if we are motivated to do so, haha… this is actually the only big issue i’ve faced academically and can cause great problems) in less time, we have more time to devote to activities we find more enjoyable. that sounds pretty good to me!</p>
<p>Well my classes are:
Pre-Calc - A+ without studying
AP Stat - A with minimal studying
Physics - A with a pretty good deal of studying
AP US - B+ with massive amount of studying
AP English - A+ without studying
Latin - A+ with minimal studying
Theology - A+ but that’s a given for everyone</p>
<p>So I guess I actually don’t do much actual studying except for AP US and Physics but I guess what I mean is I now have to read the book in order to do the homework in all my classes. It used to be I could just logic my way through everything without having even acquired any of the information which I miss so much.</p>
<p>Happiness is complacency.</p>
<p>Oh ahahaha, you expect too much, Raiderade. How do you have an A+ in Latin without studying??? I work my butt off for that A. And it’s an A-. (Isn’t it funny how the classes that you study the most for are the ones you get the worst grades in? I have the same issue haha.)</p>
<p>And pancakes, so much agreement on the motivation thing!!! Ahahahaha, I used to be terrible at school because I just didn’t do any work, because I figured that if I could get A’s on the tests without doing hw, what’s the point of making myself do it? Now that it matters, I’m fine about motivation… but uh, I got more than one D in middle school, in my classes where hw was like half the grade xD</p>
<p>I am supposedly “gifted.” </p>
<p>I am lonely a lot, so thus not happy. I don’t normally get along with girls my age. I don’t like shopping… I used to like to flirt, but hate acting stupid and ditsy. It just seems like anything social isn’t fun anymore. I think Winter Break has depressed me. </p>
<p>What happened to when we all were acing courses back in middle school?!??! I felt smart then. lol Now I feel like I am barely keeping my head above water, and zero motivation is not helping.</p>
<p>Whoaaa, flirting =/= acting stupid and ditsy, most guys don’t even like ditsy girls. If I could make myself stop giggling so much when I flirt, I would in a heartbeat.</p>
<p>You need some sun!! “It just seems like anything social isn’t fun anymore” means you need some sun. Bring your laptop outside when while you write your college essays hahaha. I’ve heard exercise improves mood too… not to overstep my etiquette boundaries or anything. I’ve never been very good about that.</p>
<p>I was not acing courses back in middle school. Oh the shame.</p>
<p>After reading through the 4 pages, I decided to sign up and also post on here.
Shame the last post is 2 years ago.</p>
<p>Well, Im currently 15 and since Elementary School Ive been declared gifted and a genius, although I never feel particularly smart.
My grades were never really good, I always refused to do Homework, never revised for exams but somehow still managed to do fairly well. I always felt like I needed to prove that I can complete my education without revising. Since the start of this term though, I really got my head down and got straight A’s.</p>
<p>Well,now to the question.
I actually am very unhappy most of the time. I have quite a lot of close friends and get along with people easily but I somehow never feel like I am really part of the group.
I always feel different than the kids my age. I do not understand them fully and somehow always feel like a bit of an outsider. I can’t reason their actions, something which I always try to do.
But I think what is making me most unhappy, is my family’s financial situation.
My parents both didn’t get the chance to get a degree (post-war in Europe) and do not earn very much, yet I still go to a private school. All my friends parents are Doctors,CEOs,Architects,Lawyers and all kinds of academic occupations.
They all live in big houses, while I live in a small flat.
I think that what makes me unhappy is to see what they have and I don’t.
Well, many people I know aren’t as “gifted” as me and yet they are all a lot happier.
They hardly care about anything, they basically eat-drink-sleep-friends.
Once again proves, that ignorance is bliss</p>
<p>Creepy, swimchica is like a female me!</p>
<p>i guess it works both way round. i have seen countless smart people who are pretty much happy with life(watch the big bang theory for a change) and stupid ones bored with themselves. however there are as many of them for whom the opposite is true. if you are satisfied with life you are happy no matter how geeky or foolish you are.</p>