For my Fellow Burnt-out Former Gifted kids

this hit me where it hurt

God, I remember what it was like. I burnt out in 7th-ish grade after I failed an exam for the first time. I basically begged to be homeschooled because my mental health wasn’t helping and I was getting bullied. Quarantine hit and it was basically mandated homeschooling and it actually improved my mental health and grades so much. Of course it was a lot easier work in general but I had like half a day to work on things I wanted to work on. I’m pretty sure I’m one of the only people who can say they came out of 2020 better than they did going into it. Riding off of that, I struggled in my first year of high school, but I took the initiative to take a lower leveled class, even though it hurt. I ended up failing a class (I struggle turning in work) but it didn’t hurt bad. 2nd year of high school was pretty bland. But it was really only up from where I was previously. And now I’m in my 3rd and I’m doing things I want to do. I guess my point is, don’t be too hard on yourself. Everything will pass, and one day, even your own hurtful thoughts will too. Btw Toxic Thoughts by Faith Marie is a pretty good listen for when your feeling down.

goddamn, i’m really regretting that i qualified as a “gifted kid”. ever since i was 8 fucking years old and was placed in double advanced classes, i have been struggling with school, home life, and mental health in general. i just wish i had time to grow up normally without having to deal with internal struggles

i got a 7/8 for a chemistry test- and told my parents and hearing my dad say 'ooh good job! shoot higher next time' and then hearing my mum say 'why didn't you get full marks in the first place? study harder.' broke my little 11 year old heart at that time

I think the worst part about it for non-university students is that you're still kids. Kids don't know their limits. They don't understand when enough is enough. When I was in high school, I would stay up doing work and get maybe 2-3 hours a night. And the fact that parents and teachers push and scare high school students into "well, in college it gets worse" is such bullshit. I'm in college. I started at 22 years old, and you know what that gives you? Perspective. I know my limits. I wish 16-year-old me did too. So, for all you burnt-out kids: your self-worth is NOT tied to the Mt. Everest of work your shitty high school teachers pile on you. You CAN and WILL get into college (if you so choose) regardless of your class rank. You are loved. You are worth it. Don't let some fucking essay on the "Grapes of Wrath" tell you otherwise.

I’m a burnt out gifted kid but i’m so burnt out i can’t even finish my assignments at all.

Collect your virtual hug here! As so many other comments have said, your true worth has nothing to do with academic achievements and everything to do with who you are as a person. And if you don't know exactly who you are yet, thats ok too. Hang in there :)

I've been crying and getting mad at memories for the past hour because of the last tiktok. I swear it's the worst felling ever when your parents were like "what do you mean you got 17 put of 20, 18 out of 20 ? You could have got better" and now they are wondering why I'm breaking when I'm frustrated or why I'm "hard on myself". You made me like this. It was your idea to pretend that 7/10 wasn't good enough to get me a great future, that I had to be the perfect kid everywhere or I would not do anything in life. Now I'm just drained and damaged and I don't want to do anything in life. I kinda am like those rock pile, waiting for the wind to push them on way or the other, because I can't stand up and pick something for myself, everything I ever did was with you behind my back watching every goddamn thing I was saying or doing. You're the reason I don't feel like I want to live. You're the reason that I just cry when I see things that remind me of my own struggle, you're the reason I'm even inconfortable with myself in the first place. And the worst is really when she say "Oh I'm really proud of her" at family gatherings. Like, Stop lying. Stop fucking lying. You were never proud of me, so stop lying. You're just telling them shit because you want to look better but I know you. You where the one that borned me and raided me. You're the one that makes me feel scared and inconfortable every goddamn day. I know what you're doing, I know how you're playing this game. Now that you realise it's too late. It took me 2 months of love and death and caring and crying until 4 am to heal a little bit, take mesure of my worth. It took you both 2 days and a half to destroy it without even trying. Sometimes i'm just a sobbing mess on my bed or in the corner or the bathroom but never with you by my side. I don't believe in you anymore. I don't thing I ever did. You never helped me when I needed it. You never cared. And now I will not trust you. I will not be by your side. I aspire to be anything that you arent, I want to be a caring, conforting, nice person that you can go when you feel down. I don't want to be the person you're hiding from when you're just shatered on the ground because your brain and society don't give you a break. I'm almost wishing that i'm infertile so I can be sure that if I ever find myself becoming like you, less people will suffer from it. Fuck you mom Oh my god I took this shit way too personaly i'm so so sorry.

this is a vent the gifted kid burnout was strong this week. i hate that phrase, because last year i told my best friend at the time "i think im burnt out." and she looked me dead in the eyes and told me that i was too young, too good, that my life was too easy for me to be going through burnout. i think that's when i stopped looking up to her. once i was talking to my "friends" during lunch, and somehow we started talking about crying on command. my day was pretty shitty so when i was the only person who could cry on command i wasn't really surprised, it just felt like crying. i blamed my ability on staring at the lights, and just being good at it, but on girl looked at me. and. she knew. she wasn't even my best friend. my best friend was right there and she didn't notice. she was talking to someone else. but this girl that i'd had barely a few conversations with, she knew. she could tell. and that almost made me actually cry. i was so tired. so so tired. this girl's my best friend now, and i tell her everything. i dont know where i would be without her. but this week was another hard week. i feel like im slipping into a depression or something, i don't know. i feel so numb, so tired. my math teacher takes forever to put in grades, so right now alot of my assignments show up as missing, so i'm failing her class. it makes me feel so embarrassed, so ashamed, but also i can't bring myself to care. im so tired. i want to scream. im angry, but im too tired to be angry. i just want it all to stop. i want it to be over and done with. i want to be 37, living in a blue house with white accents and three adopted kids, and being happy. feeling free. at the same time i want to be 5, singing along to "party in the usa" and arguing with my aunt on pink vs. purple. at the same time i want to be dead, simply not existing. i want to never have existed. i want to not have to feel. im so tired. im living. but im not happy about it. i just want to go to sleep, but i know that if i do, the morning will come faster, and i'll have to go through the world all over again. and again. and again. and again. there's no point in delaying the inevitable, but i will anyways, because it makes me feel like i have some sort of control over myself. one day its going to be over. just a few more years. this school year's almost over. a few more days till the end of the week. a few more months till the end of the year. a few more years till the end of school. will it ever end, truly? senior year seems so far away. and ill dissapoint everyone if i dont go to college. is that another four years? five? six? its so much. i just want to go to sleep. i just want to sleep in, and then crochet myself a top, and then watercolor in the sun. and then sleep. but i cant, and i feel like im dying. i dont want to die. i just want to get out of this cycle. wake up, go to school, go home, cry, go to sleep. wake up. go to school. go home. stress. cry. go to sleep. i cant do this. im so tired. im so sorry, this was super tmi but i just started wiriting and couldn't stop.

I feel like as far as gifted kids go, I honestly never put that much effort into anything and still managed to do alright. Always the thought of- "eh, even if I don't study, I'll end up doing well enough", was something I fell back on a lot. Quarantine hit me hard, and for the last 2.5 years- I cared even less, using the excuse of: "they'll lower the boundaries, we'll all do good." But when things changed, and I was put in a more competitive place to prepare for a serious and difficult exam, I couldn't even get myself to try and study. It's an exam that I was expected to do great in, but now that I have only 2 months left for it, I'm considering not even pursuing it and giving up entirely. Now I feel like whatever does end up happening, the reality will never be enough to meet the expectations put on me for being "the gifted kid". Everyone in the comments, my heart goes out to you.

ah yes, the drainage of my entire bein that i tried to hide away w my hyperfixations and escapism (:

It hits even more as a "gifted kid" when you have a learning disability. Growing up, struggling to even get the bare minimum led me down a path that secured me in getting all A's, but has engrained such a deep sense of self worth on grades and work ethic that has led to hospitalization from making myself sick (bronchitis, ED, Heart Issues, etc.). To all the "gifted kids" out there, your worth is not the grade on a test, assignment, or exam, your worth is you being true to yourself and the fact that you lived through everything you've been through in life. <3

went from the kid who learned everything fast to the kid who gets stressed out in every subject

i used to be so good at school, there was even a time where i got straight a+'s in a semester. Still getting straight a's, but i am right at my breaking point, and i can definitely confirm that my brain has been overworked, and my intelligence is slowly seeping away from all the homework i have been doing.

I used to get A+s without even picking up a book the entire year now I’m barely passing

I had a panic attack during an exam a few days ago and I was so sure I had absolutely failed, I was almost crying afterwards and my teacher tried to comfort me. Then we got the results... 100%, A+. I wasn't happy though, just a little bit relieved.

i was crying in the bathroom and then realised the time i "wasted" and then had a panic attack coz of it and after that was done i went to study coz exams with tears on my book

this is so real. i go to a private school where all the kids are so smart and the work is so hard. every day i feel so stupid there. i’ve gone there my whole life but when i was younger it was easy. i was the smart kid. my class mates new me as thay my parents did my siblings did. and now i got a 2/20 on my most recent latin quiz. im 2 weeks behind in math. i can barely keep up with the logic hw. i feel like i physically can’t get myself to do the work no matter how hard i try. i just feel so stupid. i want to feel smart again but i’m just so tired

I want to say something uplifting but the only thing I can reliably say is that this video actually just stabbed me in the ribs and left me to die

I just had my parents evening 30 minutes ago with exams coming up next week, and my geography teacher told me to make sure I take care of myself. Honestly coming out of that meeting I was holding back tears because I realised I haven’t been paying attention to anything to do with my wellbeing, and I attach my self worth to my grades way too much. So much love to everyone here and I know you will all do great things in the future ❤❤❤ good luck to all of you with exams soon and well done to everyone who has already done them!! So proud of you ❤️