Sounds like typical depression setting in, something he's probably unaware that he's been fighting for years. Sometimes your problems aren't new and unique (no matter how 'brilliant' you are), and it can benefit you to reach out to people whom you may not think can help you at first.
I'm 20, brilliant and totally lost
21–30 of 134 posts
Re: I'm 20, brilliant and totally lost
#22This article is a good in conjunction with last week's "I Was Told I Was Very Smart." http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1346357.html
An interesting trend in those labeled remarkably intelligent is a tendency toward stymied feeling of self-worth.
Re: I'm 20, brilliant and totally lost
#23Did that guy just complain about being able to own/drive a Ferrari?
Re: I'm 20, brilliant and totally lost
#24Cary should have saved his time and just said "join the navy". I'm not advocating military service. But if this student doesn't want to stay where he is, doesn't know what he wants to do and doesn't have the means to relocate, it's probably the most stable situation to let him think about his/her own future.
Just saying...
3 years on a boat or sub and he'll know EXACTLY what he wants to do (and will have a lot more means to act upon it).
Re: I'm 20, brilliant and totally lost
#25"You cannot catch what you do not drop." I'd never seen that before, what a great quote.
Sounds like something from the Tao.
Re: I'm 20, brilliant and totally lost
#26Lucky you! I was 20, brilliant and totally lost. Now I'm 36...
To quote the famous (unfortunately hoax) Vonnegut speech: Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.
On the other hand, we have John Milton lamenting his 23rd birthday (http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/milton/sonnet7.htm):
HOW soon hath time, the subtle thief of youth,
Stolen on his wing my three and twentieth year!
My hasting days fly on with full career,
But my late spring no bud or blossom sheweth.
Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth,
That I to manhood am arrived so near,
And inward ripeness doth much less appear
That some more timely happy spirits indueth.
Yet be it less or more, or soon or slow,
It shall be still in strictest measure even
To that same lot however mean or high,
Toward which time leads me and the will of heaven.
All is, if I have grace to use it so,
As ever in my great taskmaster's eye.Re: I'm 20, brilliant and totally lost
#27I honestly thought this was terrible advice. The problem this kid has is everyone has praised him seemingly since birth and so he thinks everything is simple. The mere fact that one teacher saying his dream was silly could throw his life into chaos shows he's underprepared for the world.
In fact, the only reason he seems to feel lost is because he doesn't stick with anything beyond the initial thrill.
Rather than narcissisticly wandering the world and becoming even further ingrained in this "do what's easy" philosophy I say jump into the real world. Join a startup and realize the joy of working against insurmoutable odds. Where not only do people call your dream silly but a lot of them won't even meet with you to hear you out.
Then he'll get enough backbone to pursue his own dreams
Re: I'm 20, brilliant and totally lost
#28See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarter-life_crisis
There's a crisis brewing every quarter year of your life, if you let them be your crisis.
There are some crisis that need intervention and help but whatever happened to a simple kick on the butt to move ahead and go do something useful?
Re: I'm 20, brilliant and totally lost
#29He doesn't sound all that brilliant to me. Anyone who gives up just because someone tells them that their ambition is worthless is certainly not a true visionary. People who really are brilliant are usually knocked back many times before they have their first success.
Re: I'm 20, brilliant and totally lost
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
To quote the famous (unfortunately hoax) Vonnegut speech: Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.
On the other hand, we have John Milton lamenting his 23rd birthday ( http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/milton/sonnet7.htm ): HOW soon hath time, the subtle thief of youth, Stolen on his wing my three and twentieth year! My hasting days fly on with full career, But my late spring no bud or blossom sheweth. Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth, That I to manhood am arrived so near, And inward ripeness doth muc…
23 could be a bona fide mid-life crisis in the 17th century :)