Write an article based on this "Avoid making your intelligence the core of your identity. Stay grounded in the actual world. Remember that a high intelligence doesn't mean you will have a greater degree of success. Stay true to your strengths and passions. Think through problems in the third-person. Avoid dividing the world into "smart" and "not smart" people."
It sounds impossible, but work hard to resist thinking of yourself as "the smart one" in your friend group. You will not always be the most intelligent person in the room, and the farther you get from school, the less book smarts will matter in your day-to-day life. There is more to you than your brains. Chances are those other things are what people like best about you. Maybe people around you see value in other aspects of your personality, such as your sense of humor, your ability to empathize with others, your ability to be kind or your spirituality. Consider other attributes of your personality that you view as critical and important to you, as well as the attributes that others around you seem to value. You may find that being intellectually gifted is not the only thing you have to offer to others. When all you value about yourself is your mind, it is common for a gifted adult to feel as though they have not lived up to the potential they had as a child. However, you should remember that as an individual, you evolve. This means that you may not have the same idea of "gifted" as an adult compared to when you were a child. Traditionally intelligent individuals are fast learners with a high capacity for rational thinking and abstract reasoning. However, this strength can also be a weakness. When thinking through problems, don't allow your abstract ideas to replace the material world. Robert Sternberg developed his theory of "practical intelligence" to differentiate between an intelligence that works only in theory and a way of thinking that sees things from various angles and solves problems in the here and now. This could mean that intellectually gifted individuals can use their intelligence to solve practical issues or problems, from how to build a deck properly to how to earn extra money in a certain profession or vocation. Gifted individuals are more likely to see truth as relative and meaning as contextual. Their peers are not, however. Try leaving the hypotheticals aside when talking with someone living in a more rigid world of truth. Parents and teachers will often celebrate intellectually gifted students and treat them differently. After more than a decade of schooling, it is easy to take that sense of uniqueness or superiority for granted. There are plenty of reasons to stay humble even if you are intellectually gifted. For example: Traditional intelligence measured during childhood has little bearing on success in adulthood. Highly intelligent people have the same rates of divorce, alcoholism, and suicide as people of average intelligence. Children who succeed easily in school miss out on learning the value of hard work and acquiring self-discipline, leading to difficulties in adulthood. Intelligent people are less likely to admit when they are wrong even in the face of evidence. Individuals with a high intelligence are more likely to believe in ghosts and the paranormal because they can rationalize just about any idea. Even when it seems at times that nobody else shares your unique interests and strengths, keep doing what you do. The happiness and confidence that come from pursuing your own passions will be attractive to others even if some people tease. For example, if you like reading and talking about the works of Leo Tolstoy, don't pretend like you'd rather read John Grisham. Intelligent people are more likely to develop mental "blind spots" because they learn to trust their own ideas more than the ideas of others. This can be dangerous as you get older and life becomes more complicated. To avoid being caught by biases and blind spots, take a big step backwards and separate yourself from the problem. Use "he" or "she" instead of "I" when you analyze situations. This trick can help you get outside yourself and see things from another perspective. Imagine the idea you're mulling over is somebody else's. What would you say to that person if they'd had this idea instead of you? Things are not as black-and-white as they might seem, and people who lack the same intellectual gifts that you do can still be smart in other ways. Even if someone isn't smart in one way or another, they are still a person with strengths and passions of their own, entitled to respect and a fair chance. Consider other black-and-white categories that might not turn out in your favor. Is it fair to judge the rest of the world with such a stark division? It might seem efficient to divide the world into categories of "people like me" and "people not like me," but do you really want to reduce yourself to one dimension, your intelligence? Maybe there is more to you than that.