Depressed because I'm not a child prodigy

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I've been depressed about this since I was five. I know it's kind of stupid. I don't really see much reasons why I would be like this. I was raised with low expectations and people treated me like I was "special." Little did I know it was because I was considered special needs, not because I'm great at anything. I still wish I could be super great at something.

I feel precisely the same way you do.

There was a time when I thought I was a "child prodigy" in some things. Turned out I was a pretty average schmuck with social problems

If society understood autism better, they would know what to do with our talents.

It sometimes take a little inner searching, but I'm sure you have a prodigal talent of some kind.
maybe it just doesn't fit in with the modern economic model, so nobody around you has recognized it.

It's all about believing in yourself. And that's sometimes an uphill battle for all of us.

Me? I'm a walking GPS, I can't get lost, ever.
It doesn't pay at all, and I constantly frustrated with a world with no sense of direction.
But it's nice knowing where I am all the times.

Sometimes talents don't have to be big.

Heck, I wish I had John Carmack's (creator of Doom & iD software) programming skills.
Tried like crazy, I'm just a hobby programmer. I'll look in other areas, why force something that doesn't fit.

Explore, experiment with different things, maybe you'll discover something you didn't think existed.

Einstien was well into adulthood when he became well known. They thought he was "ret*d" in school.

Last edited by pete1061 on 08 Sep 2015, 7:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Yeah.

Your ASD makes in the top 1% of something.

The mere fact most of us are here on WP searching, trying to improve ourselves is a definite "one up" on most of the population.

I'm not a prodigy at anything. The good news is I'm not exactly autistic. I was a weird kid, but I have more ADHD symptoms than anything autism related.

I have an average IQ.
Average sense of direction.
Below average visual special skills.
Horrible short term memory.
No motivation or discipline.
Average art skills.
Upper average music skills(nowhere near prodigy level.)
Average language skills.

You seem to put a negative slant on most of those.
Looks like you are just focusing on flaws. Give yourself a break.
I've found it's the messages from society that I let myself get distracted by. Western culture is a very critical one, we all get trained to examine the flaws. It really does us no good, we wind up ignoring all the positive aspects.

This is something I've only recently realized, and am still taking baby steps to practice myself.
I have to let myself feel egotistical and give myself a pat on the back sometimes.

For years, that list of yours has been my mantra.
Now I'm at the midpoint of life and I need to look back and change some things about myself.
I'm looking at things I thought was nothing when I was 19, turned out to be wonderful aspects of myself.

I became a miserable hermit for years reciting a list like yours to myself.
I can't do that to myself anymore. It's killing me.

For what it's worth, I wish I had a photographic memory. My images could probably be best compared with old photography types (such as missing or cropped-out parts of the whole picture), but not with TRUE photographic memory- like the kind Temple Grandin has or Kim Peek had. I wish so much I had that type of memory!
So don't feel too sad about not being a prodigy. I guess we all would love to be more "special" than what we think of ourselves.

Most successful musicians are not prodigies.

Unfortunately, there are not many opportunities for financial success in music, but the key is to be "ready" when those opportunities come around. The primary deciding factor between success and a lack of success is practicing and keeping skills sharp so that one *is* ready at those opportune times, not innate ability.

A person with prodigious musical skills often burns out by adulthood, anyway, and doesn't want to be a professional musician. They often feel pressured and pushed into it by the adults in their lives. Those who plug away with average or perhaps above-average skills in the long run may have more success. Those who *have* to work harder at something they *love* often develop the skills to KEEP GOING when times get tough. Those who always have it easy can get tripped up when things become tough.

A person can have all the innate ability in the world and show prodigious skill, but if he or she doesn't develop it, it goes to waste. Likewise, someone can work hard with a minimum of talent and make something incredible.

Sure, I'd like some things to be easier, but not to the point of complaining over not having mind-blowing abilities at the expense of basic functioning á la Rainman. Crippling overspeciaization seems inevitable in such cases.

When I was little, for some reason, I thought I was special. It was only a misguided wish.

Bingo!! Steven King gets the blue ribbon!!

can't say it any better.

OMG me too!! ! I used to have my nose in the air because I was Numero UNO in high school - academically only.
When I went to college, I realized I was just an average jane and a social pariah. In high school, I was at least tolerated in social circles because they needed me for tutoring. Sometimes real, actual prodigies have serious problems in other areas and feel rather "incomplete" looking at life as a whole piece. I heard the suicide rate becomes very high when real life requires that they shift gears. Just accept who you are and make the best of you. The speciality in my life was that I was able to snag a good man and got married.

Last edited by RightGalaxy on 09 Sep 2015, 10:03 am, edited 1 time in total.

Don't be depressed over such silly things.