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Why do i always feel my IQ is inferior to everyone elses?

Discussion in 'General Support and Advice' started by teluphone, May 20, 2013.

  1. teluphone

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    I can't help but have this constant nagging insecurity whenever i engage in a casual conversation to acquaintances, friends, family etc. to perhaps during project presentations/job interviews to even going to banks to deposit checks that i just don't seem smart enough in anything (sports, current affairs, games, homework, accounting) which worries me considering i feel like my life is really meaningless, bleak, depressive to even look at. Along with the fact that i've only scored like B+ grades all the time and have an extremely passive personality just shows how average i really am.

    My friends often tell me to try and not compare myself to others seeing as each and every individual are built on different strengths and weaknesses but i fear that if i don't do anything about this insecurity, worst case scenario is i start suffering from panic attacks over the most minor thing i do (which hasn't happened so far).

    However, I do get baffled and slightly envious on how my friends seem content and carefree about the present and their own futures (for example they don't really seem to care about getting good grades or know what career they're planning to aim for). I often think they seem smart enough to plan their own futures, so much so they don't have to over think it like i do.

    okay i was rambling quite a bit on the last paragraph
     
  2. sunnii

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    They say if you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room.

    I noticed you're from Singapore. So I don't know about the cultural differences but from experience I'm happier being "dumber" I was a "brain" at school but compared to my friends I felt inferior and once I left college I've been much less intellectual and because I have little common sense and street smarts I'm seen. Ditzy but I like that.

    Intelligence I spread apart in many ways. Being able to break apart and rebuild a car is seen as intelligence but there's that episode of Frasier where he and Niles are the class dunces when they take a mechanic class
     
  3. Music Heals

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    Despite the fact I'd technically be labeled as "intelligent", I've always thought that working hard is far more important than getting the top grades or having the most impressive vocabulary. To me, "smart" means you know what you are doing, young know your limits and strengths, and you plan for the future, ask for help when needed, and work hard to achieve goals, which all sound like things you do. Don't worry so much about everyone else's IQ compared to yours; you know what you're doing, you're planning for the future, and you can spell things correctly, so kudos to you! Although this probably means nothing, I would classify you as smart in my books :slight_smile:
     
  4. Argentwing

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    I've been called "gifted" all my life. I was called "bright" as a five-year old and didn't know what they meant; how could a person emit light?

    While I got good grades and generally don't make a fool of myself, intelligence represents potential, and nothing more. If you take two people, one a blithering idiot and the other a "gifted" student and have them put forth the same amount of effort, you'd see little difference in the results. The smart person might be slightly more successful, but never in a cash-money millions sort of runaway. However, if you take those two intellects and have them both work as hard as they can, the idiot will achieve mediocrity, and the smart person will achieve greatness.

    But even that is a gross oversimplification. If too many people say you're smart and will be amazing at everything, you get lazy. Furthermore, people who are dumb in school can sometimes play sports like some sort of three-pointer messiah.

    Point is, you shouldn't feel inferior about any sense of intelligence. It really means very little on a day-to-day basis. :slight_smile: