I think using the term “peaked in high school” is about as problematic a term as “former gifted kid” is. It sells a false narrative that there can be only one peak in a person’s life. I should know, because I am a former gifted kid who definitely had a strong peak in high school. I passed all 8 of the AP exams I took, was captain of the tennis team, and prom king. I don’t know I can say I could do all of that being who I am now, which does make me feel a little lesser than I was. But then I take off the nostalgia glasses and remember all of the pressure I was under from everywhere around me to accomplish those things, and the insecurity leading me to obsess over books and video games to escape life. That leads me to remember the feelings of burnout and inability I had to cope with life when those pressure sources were no longer present, and how much I have grown in dealing with those.

My point in saying all that is to show that, given only that info, I exactly fit the description of what you’re saying. And if that is all you know about me, maybe you’d think that you’re right, but I’ve had several peaks since then, all of them different. I could wax poetic over my first real relationship, and if that was all I said to you you might think “God, this guy needs to get over it, he definitely peaked in his first relationship.” But I didn’t because this thread is about “former gifted kids,” so that’s all you’ll read about when you enter it.

Memes are typically about one topic and one topic only, and assuming that the topic of a meme is all there is to the person posting it is (to put it nicely) kinda silly.

i don't understand the obsessive mentality people have about 'what could have been'.

Bitch, you didn't do it. It never was and never was going to be. Get over your self. You are not special.

Thanks now I have another reason to hate myself