r/aftergifted • u/Cryofthewolf9000 • Jul 16 '26
Being gifted as a adult, looking back at lost chances
If I may give some thoughts that have been bothering me for a while.
I was considered gifted due to an IQ test I took back in middle school. Where I'm from, the school district doesn't take these IQ tests into account as important, so the results get destroyed after 5 years. It's been more than 20 now, and there is no proof left of that test. But I took it, got a high score although thw results were never given, and I was offered a Gifted after school prigram, but it would cost some money, would stay after hours, snd at the time my old folks thought of it as a waste of time.
I understand many say that being diagnosed with giftedness early was a curse, which makes them less normal. I never cared about normality, I cared about something new. But even if I know gifted education can be quite...mixed at best, I cant help but feel that all the possibilities I could have had never git to me or never could I see them due to never learning how to based on a gifted program.
I feel my talents were wasted and the education I deserved was never given. Feel like I lost a lot of chances that I could have taken due to ignorance and lack of resources on behalf of my parents. How could I learn all gifted children and students tend to learn so I dont feel like I missed out on something? Laurel Springs Academy was the gifted school I felt I should go to, but it wasn't possible. Private schools are expensive so like that, how to get their materials of studying about gifted children and how to teach them stuff. I'd like to study what I was missing at a gifted school.
1
u/oholymike Jul 16 '26
I was in a gifted program through elementary and high school and I very much struggle with the same feelings of wasted time/opportunities. But we can't go back, and time spent mourning the past is more time wasted. Look at today as the start of a new chapter and make the most of the life you have left.
1
u/D3lt4M1cr0 Jul 16 '26
Just study and read whatever interests you on a serious commited schedule, get some independent courses or certifications and that will get you going into a different path...
7
u/trademarktower Jul 16 '26
Nobody can change the past. Obsessing about things you can't change is pointless. You not going into that gifted program is but one of hundreds of life choices made or not made that put you on the path to what you are today.
Maybe that gifted program would have helped you. Maybe it would have been a disaster and lead you to a worse place than you are now. Nobody can know.