I was over at Lyfe Simplified, it got me to thinking about my life since high school. I used to have this recurring dream, maybe I have shared it before. I would be sitting in a classroom taking an exam. All of the students around me were young and supposed to be there. I, however, was the only one left of my graduating class. I was supposed to take this test and had no idea what it was about or why I was still there.
This dream really used to bother me and I shared it once with my brother. He said, "You have to stop being so hard on yourself. You're doing fine."
It was an epiphany for me. The secret of the dream revealed. I had long harbored this self-doubt that I really didn't belong in my gifted program with all of the rich kids who took Latin in like fifth grade. Yet I was there working twice as hard to make up for the public school deficit of my previous eight years.
I happened to run into one of my fellow high school alums on a Chicago bus once. She actually went to Princeton, freaking PRINCETON! Yet she was on the bus with me, disillusioned and slightly bitter. Gone was the happy-go-lucky nerd I had known in high school.
Truth is, life is complicated, period. Success is more than a great GPA, trust, I know.
Things that have helped me cope with OVER ACHIEVERS SYNDROME:
1. Throw away the TIME LINE you (I) created in eighth grade.
2. Give yourself a break. A lot of people would kill to be where you are now.
3. You have to keep that swagga you had in high school and move toward your dreams. IMHO. Turn your now into WOW.
Just a few things I have learned. Drop your advice in the comments.
