Gifted people have untypical brain development, which is why they sometimes see the world acutely and feel big emotions. It's time that we create a culture that encourages people to embrace their giftedness without feeling guilty. In this week's episode, we're going to talk about being aware of your giftedness and what to do about it. Part One of ‘Are You Gifted and Don't Know It?’ Was there a time in your life where you felt like you're different from everyone else? I have confirmed that from the age of five. I even thought there was something wrong with me. It wasn't an easy journey because people think life is easier for smart people. Sometimes you wonder, how did that even get interpreted? There's a sense of chronic loneliness that I kept asking myself, who will understand me? Here are some of the interesting things about gifted people. They love to have a sense of perfectionism, but it's not that fear-based perfectionism. They want to see things in order to be deemed as good enough. It's the perfectionism that has something to do with precision, beauty, and harmony. Gifted people sometimes struggle with being vulnerable because they've experienced being made of because of it. Gifted people have a lot of anxiety but are not necessarily related to mental illness. It's the fear that things won't go the way they want them to. If you're a visionary, you can see it a certain way, and you aren't sure it can happen that way because of whatever reasons, anxiety evokes. “Gifted people sometimes struggle with being vulnerable about what they think or feel.” – Dianne A. Allen (03:13-03:17) Gifted people need help with translation and bridges sometimes. They process things differently and come up with ideas in a more creative way. It's not better or worse; it's just different. Gifted people have standards that are so high that it backfires on them because they want it to be so perfect out of the gate, and they suffer tremendously. So, if you're gifted, you don't know it, and you're having struggles, once you realize that it's part of the neurology, you'll learn how to work with it eventually. Soon, we start making friends with all those parts of us that, for our whole lifetime, were either misunderstood, denied, or misrepresented. Part Two of ‘Are You Gifted and Don't Know It?’ Gifted people who don't know they're gifted can feel alone and isolated. When you keep trying to engage with somebody who doesn't understand you, sooner or later, you quit trying to engage because you think you're an alien. You have these thoughts in your head that they don't see the real you. Perhaps, you're shy and reserved. But a more significant part of it could be your giftedness. The things that are important to you are different than the things that are important to them. But things get better when somebody understands you. You see, gifted people need to come together with other gifted people. “Allow yourself to be surrounded by other gifted people who get you.” – Dianne A. Allen (23:24-23:35) Understanding how you see the world might be different from others, but it doesn't make it wrong. All gifted people are not the same, and giftedness shows up in different ways.