My choice would have an impact far beyond anything I could conceive of, and I sensed that. I had accidentally created the haven I’d craved— needed—when I was young, and if I walked away from it, what did that mean? For me? For others? For the community I’d created? I have lived accidental life. For instance, I’d started off my postsecondary … [Read more...] about Living an Accidental Life
gifted women
I’m Not Gifted. I’m Just Weird.
The first date with Devin* was at a coffee shop, and over the next week, we decided to meet for dinner. We went to a restaurant that’s part of a large US chain. We opened the slightly unwieldy menus. “My oh my, what to order.” He used a funny, silly voice. “I think I’ll order the kreplach.” I peered over the menu. “Did you just speak Klingon?” Devin didn’t smile. Then … [Read more...] about I’m Not Gifted. I’m Just Weird.
Urgent, Paralyzed Possibility
My continuing search for information was often debilitating, mired in ambiguity and desperation to find clarity not for myself but for my students and my own children. Questions that started to plague me included some of the following: Does learning disabled mean broken? Does an affinity for aesthetic beauty and art become void when paired with dyslexia? What about a need for … [Read more...] about Urgent, Paralyzed Possibility
Gifted, Empathic, Emotionally Intense, and Highly Sensitive
Trusting my ability to read other people and their situations is something I need to accept and honor. As I look back on meaningful, traumatic, or momentous occasions where I intuited the situation or the person correctly, I should be confident in my empathic ability. If I’m honest, my empathy crosses over into the unknown, and my fact- and science-based thinking doesn’t set … [Read more...] about Gifted, Empathic, Emotionally Intense, and Highly Sensitive
The Pretty Twin: How a Haircut Shed a Disheveled Layer and Unboxed a Level
Cutting my hair was not only freeing; it was symbolic. I lopped off excess layers, shed who I tried in vain to be, and leveled up toward Me. Now comfortable in my own skin and confident in my abilities, I am somehow different from who I thought I was yet simultaneously exactly the same. I typically cut my hair only once every two and a half years to give to Wigs for Kids, an … [Read more...] about The Pretty Twin: How a Haircut Shed a Disheveled Layer and Unboxed a Level
Lonesome Town: How This Gifted Girl Unapologetically Navigates Friendship
For gifted people, alone is part of the gig. That's just math. There are fewer of us out there. But alone and lonely are two separate words for a reason. I can be lonely in a crowded room. And I can be quite happy and alone with myself for extended periods of time. What I had to learn is that popularity is for prom queens and yearbook autographs. Popularity might get you … [Read more...] about Lonesome Town: How This Gifted Girl Unapologetically Navigates Friendship
There’s No One Way to Be Gifted
Whether giftedness itself is a burden depends entirely on whether you have experienced true understanding from others. Feeling grossly misunderstood your entire life is most definitely a burden. There may also be aspects of asynchrony and intensity that make life more challenging. I recently found a file of old journals. My senior year journal, shared only with my English … [Read more...] about There’s No One Way to Be Gifted
Resolution Reframe
It was during the eight weeks of the SENG Parent group that I began to reflect on my experiences as a gifted child. I realized that I had let my gifted identity go underground, as many gifted girls do. This really gave me the tools to help my daughters think and talk about their giftedness. My New Year’s resolution is the same this year as it has been for much of my … [Read more...] about Resolution Reframe
Building an Online Gifted Learning Community
Online G3 has been a way to give not only my own daughter but also many students in the broader gifted community a means to find their own identities as gifted individuals in an active, diverse community that inspires friendship and support daily...Without this unique opportunity to give back to the gifted community, my own ties to my gifted identity would have never been so … [Read more...] about Building an Online Gifted Learning Community
Conversations of Sustenance
So many mentors have nurtured and sustained me—the gifted therapists, the systems thinkers and second order cyberneticians, the deep ecologists and naturalists, the school founders, the teens I have mentored who have become my peers in time, and the children who have trusted me and grace my life. I know I’m not unusual in going through much of my early life feeling like … [Read more...] about Conversations of Sustenance