Venting I used to have such a bright future

[guy123]

When I was a child I was always told how bright I was and how I had such a good future ahead of me. Now that I'm an adult I can hardly get out of bed most mornings. Every day is just endless anxiety and I want it to end. I kept failing in university and had to move back in with my parents. I feel pathetic compared to all of my peers who had the same start as me but got so much further. I feel so alone and I can't talk to anyone in real life. Does anyone relate?

 

[R-7]

Honestly friend, I relate quite a bit (or at least I feel like I do).

I remember how much I apparently used to love school, do good on every single test and people to this very day tell me that I'm smart when to this very day I am skeptical of the fact. I've seen my friends get success, high paying jobs and even recently two friends got married all while I'm stuck in a pit of depression as my life isn't really going anywhere. It really is a terrible feeling.

 

[guy123]

It's a horrible feeling. Obviously I am so happy for all of my friends and the people around me but I feel like I'm trapped in a life that I hate and comparing myself to others only makes it so much worse.

 

[somebodyfromeast]

When I graduated from university, absolutely everyone said what a great future awaited me. About half of my acquaintances called me a genius in various situations. And.... Here we are chatting with you on SaSu lol!
Welcome

 

[CapitánBeto]

Giftedness has a complex relationship with mental health.
Bright youth risk growing into depressive or anxious adults.
These are results from clinical psychology which I should be citing but I'm lazy and already past my bedtime.

There's a quote that I read somewhere, from a journalist I believe, who said sth like: "I don't care for Frank Sinatra as much as I care for all the others who were at least as good as him but didn't make it"

There's plenty of wasted potential and lost opportunities.
It is what it is.

Sometimes I do mourn the things I could have achieved and spend hours daydreaming about them.
…and after a mild depressive episode I come to terms with it and accept the fact that such is life.

Stoic philosophy has helped me find inner peace.
Life is not about achievements but enduring.

Still, my eyes water whenever I'm reminded of the bright physicist I believe I could have been.

Please don't confront me with my failures, I had not forgotten them.

 

[OnMyLast Legs]

When I was a child I was always told how bright I was and how I had such a good future ahead of me. Now that I'm an adult I can hardly get out of bed most mornings. Every day is just endless anxiety and I want it to end. I kept failing in university and had to move back in with my parents. I feel pathetic compared to all of my peers who had the same start as me but got so much further. I feel so alone and I can't talk to anyone in real life. Does anyone relate?

Same here. I was a "gifted kid." Won the state spelling bee. National Merit semifinalist (one of the tiny minority NOT to become a finalist--I was already blowing off studying and getting bad grades). 2x state champion wrestler. I made choices and developed habits that destroyed me. Breaking my word. Hiding. Quitting things, escaping into fantasy, novels, movies, weed, keeping myself going with delusions about how a brilliant future awaited me regardless. But the bill came due.

 

[badatparties]

A lot of us were like that but we got damaged along the way and never recovered. You ain't alone. Happy days.