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This is something I read in someone's LiveJournal. I don't take credit for things I don't write, so yeah, I didn't write this. But it explains how I feel perfectly.
"Since as far back as I can remember, people have been disappointed with me. Mostly, those people are in positions of evaluating me. Teachers, coaches, supervisors, etc. The message seems to be the same, from the 10th grade French teacher who yelled at me in French in front of the class, "WHY DON'T YOU WORK LIKE THIS ALL THE TIME, YOU HAVE TALENT, YOU WOULD GET AN A?!?" to the head of the teaching center at college who said, "You're the brightest student I've ever had."
They seem to be smart people, generally. But yet, they miss the point - I just don't care.
Besides, years and years of average performance interspersed by occasional flashes of insight don't make one genius, or even particularly smart. If anything, they make one...average.
So why is it these people feel the need to continually bludgeon me with their idea of what I should be achieving? Even if they're right, is there something wrong with being an underachiever?
I don't want or need to be the smartest kid in the class, the hardest or most productive worker, the shining star making new inroads in some field of study. A lot of those people seem driven and focused, but also unhappy and out of touch. I'm fine with running under everyone's radar, in the background.
Some people always want to be at the center but there have to be those at the periphery, too.
And it's been just fine. I've had decent friends, decent family, decent jobs, decent homes, and decent happiness. So what if I don't have a yacht? I get to go for free on the ones my super-achiever friends have.
Find me at the Sidekick Store, on a shelf in the back."
"Since as far back as I can remember, people have been disappointed with me. Mostly, those people are in positions of evaluating me. Teachers, coaches, supervisors, etc. The message seems to be the same, from the 10th grade French teacher who yelled at me in French in front of the class, "WHY DON'T YOU WORK LIKE THIS ALL THE TIME, YOU HAVE TALENT, YOU WOULD GET AN A?!?" to the head of the teaching center at college who said, "You're the brightest student I've ever had."
They seem to be smart people, generally. But yet, they miss the point - I just don't care.
Besides, years and years of average performance interspersed by occasional flashes of insight don't make one genius, or even particularly smart. If anything, they make one...average.
So why is it these people feel the need to continually bludgeon me with their idea of what I should be achieving? Even if they're right, is there something wrong with being an underachiever?
I don't want or need to be the smartest kid in the class, the hardest or most productive worker, the shining star making new inroads in some field of study. A lot of those people seem driven and focused, but also unhappy and out of touch. I'm fine with running under everyone's radar, in the background.
Some people always want to be at the center but there have to be those at the periphery, too.
And it's been just fine. I've had decent friends, decent family, decent jobs, decent homes, and decent happiness. So what if I don't have a yacht? I get to go for free on the ones my super-achiever friends have.
Find me at the Sidekick Store, on a shelf in the back."