this post was submitted on 13 Dec 2025
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The point of "gifted child to adult burnout pipeline" was never to say "i had so much potential", it was "people placed absurd and crushing expectations on me because they did not get that i wasn't 'gifted', i just had normal hyperfixations". This is completely missing the point of the meme, neurotypical ass bs.
Love to have grown up in the era of "ADHD isn't real" so teachers could just berate me for being bored in class all the time
Love to be an adult during the era of "getting an AuDHD diagnosis will get you put on a registry and probably result in custody of your child being taken away" as a follow-up
Class is fucking boring, good teachers realize this and work to make it engaging and connected to real life
But isn’t that the point of the “could’ve gone pro” comparison? Those athletes most likely weren’t pro-caliber either, they just had those expectations forced on them because they happened to be the ringer compared to the rest of their high school. But that was enough for the adults looking to live vicariously to push them to wreck their bodies young.
Yeah like kids going into the pro scene early and get that increase load that their body isn't gonna be accustomed to and get injured at a critical time of their athletic development
Most of the so-called gifted kids aren't asserting that they were geniuses, but the jocks in this circumstance definitely are saying they could have gone pro. At least, that's the received cultural understanding from the latter meme, since they are usually the only ones still talking about it. "I could have been a contender," etc.
I think that comes from sports injuries being framed as accidents more so than as the result of repetitive over exertion. That one’s Achilles getting injured and not ever truly recovering from it is just chance that got in the way of their goal rather than their body being pushed beyond what it can shoulder. With mental over exertion, the common view is that the brain can take on infinite load and that burnout is just an excuse for lacking sufficient Protestant work ethic. So former “gifted” kids don’t talk like that because they know people will perceive them as making excuses, or believe it themselves and engage in self-loathing.
That being said, a lot of that debatelord, fallacyman,
brain mentality is a manifestation of former “gifted” kids trying to maintain that feeling of potential. They might’ve burned out their junior year of high school or dropped out of the good college a semester in, but if they can own someone online with logic facts and reason, they can convince themselves they’ve “still got it.”
yeah i wouldn't have been some multi millionaire tech guy, but i could've had a degree and a career instead of being unable to function in society
I just found the classroom environment and prison mentality unbearable as an undiagnosed autistic person. I was punished for my autistic behaviours rather than having them recognised and accommodated, and this continued into adulthood until I got diagnosed. Hell I've been fired after diagnosis for requesting accomodations, they just make up some other bullshit excuse.
under-estimating the delusional self-regard of r*dditor scum? couldnt be me
Not everybody who resonates with that meme is an arrogant redditor, pls touch some grass.