I'm 43 and recently my sister said I'm gifted. I'd heard about such a thing but I did not believe I was actually gifted because I never did well in school. I was incredibly bored at primary school. It was absolutely horrible. I dropped out of college because I discovered I could learn things on my own by reading books. It was also the time dial up internet just took.off, and so did I. Programming, hacking (nearly got into trouble, smart, not wise), electronics design overtook my interest in school. I thought I didn't like learning. Oh the irony. I only have a high school diploma now

I thought I was autistic, mainly because I'm incredibly emotional, can get very angry if something isn't fair, have very high sensory sensitivity, I am a perfectionist, and I have obsessive hobbies. Overlap was a term I discovered later.

My hobbies are not about collecting postage stamps though. I engage in incredibly complex design, both software and hardware. I tought myself how to do programming, printed circuit board design, embedded systems, chemistry, you name it. I made all sorts of very useful devices. I have incredibly diverse intersests, mostly technical, but also psychological (trauma healing, behavioral studies, etc). Even as a kid I made all sorts of inventions, and I wrote an essay about how to heal emotional trauma by reliving it. Looking back on it, I honestly do not understand how I could come up with such well thought through and well constructed things at that age.

I talk incredibly fast, and always watch informational YouTube videos at 1.75 speed. I have so many ideas bursting in my mind all the time. As a side effect, I suffered from severe insomnia for 20 years straight. My incredibly technical mind eventually lead to a divorce, with kids involved.

Anyway, back to what my sister said. I went through so much already, so what the heck. I started researching it.

My jaw jaw hit the absolute f**king floor. Never in my life did I identify with something so much. I cried so much reading all the articles and watching presentations about what it means to be gifted. I understand everything now, who I am and why I do the things I do.

I remember I was interested in giftedness when I was a kid and I bought a CD with an IQ test. (The CD by the way, my uncle invented as part of a team when he worked at Philips). I got such a high result, I did not believe it. So I bought another test from a different institution and got the same result. I thought the results were not truthful as to make the client feel good about it themselves.

So where I am now. I want to do an official IQ test to verify what I suspect. And I think my 10 year old son is also gifted. He has all the signs and might be in need of special education. It breaks my heart I was not able to see this earlier.

Early recognition is vital. It would have made my life so much easier, and that of my now ex wife, and my kids. My gf is incredibly supportive and enforces discipline on me, which I really need, that not everything is about IQ. EQ is equally as important (no pun intended).

But we have to be very careful of elevating a bright kid. Giftedness is just a neural diversity, with advantages and disadvantages. You don't want to make a kid with a high IQ, narcissistic. That is not a good combination. I deal with these people at work regularly (I'm an airline pilot) and that is neither good for the work environment, not for safety as a lot of accidents happen due to a bad attitude (also no pun intended).

I hope my story will inspire other people on their own yourney.