I don鈥檛 deserve any credit, I just was born this way, to new immigrants, Holocaust survivors just off the boat. We lived in a Bronx tenement. My parents spoke little English, yet I taught myself to read at 3 and was reading on a 12th grade level in the first grade. I taught myself to play the piano on the broken-down piano in the vacant lot near our apartment building. I played over 2,000 gigs before I was 22.

But I could have used a mentor–so that even when I was bullied and teased relentlessly that I could have the support to know that I mattered. That I didn’t have to be like those other kids. That my intellectual abilities were actually an incredible gift.

That鈥檚 why I鈥檇 think I just might have something to offer gifted kids who, in one way or another, don鈥檛 have it so peachy-keen.

You, with your fine intellectual ability, have the luxury of deciding how much you want to fit in and how much you want to choose a road less traveled. Make the decision consciously. You鈥檒l feel better about how you鈥檙e living your life. And remember, that with the additional luxury of youth, if your first guess is wrong, you can pivot or even do a 180鈥攎ultiple times! But each time you try something, you鈥檙e closer to what will feel great. Like the game hot-and-cold.

鈥淚鈥檓 bored out of my mind鈥� says a piano student who practiced for hours every day under the diligent watch of his parent.

How could someone work so much and be so bored?

People who work and study for the sake of doing, or do it because of external pressure, can burnout quickly. Gifted children, who are highly sensitive and embody various cognitive, physical, and emotional intensities, are more prone to burnout and boredom, as explained in Dabrowski鈥檚 over-excitabilities (OE).

For example, gifted children can concentrate on learning one subject for a long time as long as they are mentally stimulated. This is characterized as psychomotor OE 鈥� a high-energy child. However, if their mind is insufficiently stimulated, or if they already know the subject before class starts, they get bored quickly and lose interest in the subject they are learning. Children with psychomotor OE can often be misdiagnosed as ADHD.

In addition, the thirst for knowledge, or intellectual OE, is a common trait in gifted children. They are deeply curious about the world around them, love to ask probing questions, and can be highly self-critical with their struggles to be 鈥減erfect鈥�. The need to be 鈥減erfect鈥�, which is often measured by test scores and achievement, can be a disastrous recipe for burnout.

Gifted children often struggle with over-developing one aspect of self, while overlooking the rest of who they are. As Dr. Michael Piechowski, author of聽 . 聽eloquently stated, 鈥溾�� cognition without an emotional sense to give it value, positive or negative, is sterile. The passion for learning and mastery, so characteristic of the gifted, is driven by a very powerful emotion: intense interest.鈥�

It is important to recognize that gifted children not only think differently than other children, they also feel differently. Their intellectual complexity combined with their emotional intensity gives them a qualitatively different way of experiencing the world. Nurturing a gifted child鈥檚 body, heart, social and emotional self is key to putting value to their achievement and finding balance.