It’s a common misconception that being a genius is always a good thing when in reality, it comes with its own unique set of challenges. With our high-IQ readers in mind, here are some struggles that these individuals have to deal with every day that you may not know about.
Difficulty in Relationships
While exceptionally clever people also have excellent emotional intelligence, this can become too much in relationships, as they’ll overanalyze social interactions. They’ll also have expectations that are difficult for their partner or friends to meet, leading to frequent misunderstandings, conflicts, and general social tension.
Never Feeling Satisfied
Despite their achievements, people with exceptional intelligence often struggle with never feeling satisfied with their accomplishments. They feel a constant need to achieve more, which can diminish their happiness and overall satisfaction with life, trapping them in a constant state of not feeling good enough.
Boredom at Work
Regardless of what job they have, if they’re intelligent enough, someone will find it tough to stay engaged at work. They will complete tasks quickly and without struggle, causing them to become bored, ultimately destroying their job dissatisfaction and motivation to progress up the ladder.
Constant Analysis
As The Business Standard explains, intelligent people constantly analyze everything, even when they’re trying to relax. As you can imagine, that gets exhausting fast; without being able to unwind, they can easily reach boiling point, yet they’re unable to put their busy minds at ease.
High Expectations
People often assume that those with high intelligence can handle anything, and sadly, this leaves them with a lot of pressure on their shoulders. Such high expectations can be overwhelming, even for the most intelligent people, often leading to overcommitment, stress, and burnout.
Social Isolation
Sadly, being exceptionally intelligent can be awfully isolating, as it’s difficult for a genius to find peers who think on their level. This often leads to feelings of loneliness and alienation, especially considering that they won’t feel engaged with more common interests or conversations.
Emotional Overwhelm
Intelligence comes paired with high emotional sensitivity, and while this can be positive for generally smart people, it’s overwhelming for the exceptionally smart. They will often have intense emotional reactions to the smallest situations, and managing this is exhausting, crippling their mental well-being.
Decision Paralysis
When you use your exceptional brain power to foresee outcomes in everyday life, making decisions can become a paralyzing process. Overthinking is a daily struggle, and even the simplest choices, such as what to have for dinner or what to wear, can paralyze you into indecisiveness.
Impostor Syndrome
No matter how smart you are, nobody is safe from impostor syndrome. Even the brightest minds can doubt the credibility of their abilities; in fact, it’s often worse, as they are constantly praised for their genius status. Unfortunately, such self-doubt can really take its toll on someone’s happiness.
Unrealistic Self-Expectations
It doesn’t matter how intelligent someone is–they’re not a superhero, so their abilities will always have limits. Sadly, exceptionally intelligent people often fail to realize this, setting themselves impossibly high standards and being self-critical of anything that isn’t perfection. Naturally, this can be brutal on their self-esteem and confidence.
Envy from Others
Success and intelligence can breed jealousy in others, who may look at a genius’ intelligence with bitter envy. The saddest part of this is that the genius can’t do anything about it, and will continue to anger people around them, even if they try to play down their intelligence.
Pressure to Solve Problems
Intelligent people love solving problems, but when you’re a prodigy, problem-solving becomes something that others expect from you. You’re always expected to have the answers, and if you don’t, you’re expected to figure it out on the spot. It’s a draining expectation that can leave you with limited free time.
Mistaken for Being Arrogant
Nobody likes a know-it-all, but exceptionally intelligent people can’t help but be themselves. While they will try their best not to come across as arrogant or condescending, their intelligence makes this difficult, and sadly, it can push people away who don’t understand this conundrum.
Perfectionism
The drive for perfection is common among those with high intelligence, but sadly, perfection is non-existent. There will always be ways to improve, which is one of the few things that geniuses fail to understand, and meaning that their perfectionism can quickly become debilitating and exhausting.
Lack of Competition
Highly intelligent people love to entertain themselves through logic games such as chess and strategic video games. However, when you’re as smart as they are, it’s tough to find friends who can compete on your level, which can sadly leave you with no one to play with.
Skepticism of Authority
Another downside of abnormal intelligence is that it leads to a skepticism of authority. While this may sound positive on the surface, it can cause serious conflicts in professional and academic settings. Someone’s critical thinking skills might not always be welcomed, especially in rigid or traditional environments.
Fear of Failure
In contrast to how it might seem, a fear of failure is even more prevalent in intelligent people than in regular folk. They’re so used to succeeding that they’ve never learned to accept failures as a learning opportunity, which only adds to the pressure they put on themselves.
Difficulty Delegating
When you know you’re the smartest person in a room, it can feel scary to trust others to meet standards, making delegating tasks a serious challenge. Sometimes, this causes them to avoid delegating altogether, taking on extra work, and stressing themselves out with excessive challenges.