You Were the Smart Kid. So Why Do You Feel So Lost Now?

in today's episode of the let's talk psychology podcast we're going to talk about why smart kids end up lonely and struggle as adults this audio recording includes subtitles so you can follow along more intentionally and absorb the ideas at your own pace why is it that so many smart kids grow up feeling stuck disconnected and completely alone they were supposed to be ahead of everyone else they were praised rewarded told they'd go far and yet somewhere along the way that promise turned into pre that praise became a prison and now a lot of those same

kids the ones who once stood out are struggling as adults they can't find motivation they feel socially behind they struggle to start things follow through or connect with people and worst of all they can't explain why because on the outside everything looks fine they're still sharp still capable but inside there's this constant sense of isolation like life is happening to other people and they're just watching it go by and it turns out there's a reason for that smart kids often build their entire identity around being smart and when that happens the very thing that made

them feel special as children becomes the exact thing that traps them as adults so let's talk about why this happens and more importantly how to undo it because none of this is about failure it's about a survival strategy that stopped working and if you understand how you got here you can start to find a way out so When We're Young our identity tends to be simple kids latch on to one or two traits and build their sense of self around them for example a kid might base his identity as a person who likes Pokemon or

chicken nuggets it's all very one-dimensional but that's normal that's how identity starts it's straightforward and it's based on interests or labels and one of the most powerful labels a child can receive is you're smart that phrase sticks it gets reinforced by teachers parents classmates it becomes a core part of how you see yourself and for a while it feels amazing being smart as a kid gives you praise attention and you basically live life on easy mode you don't need to study as hard as everyone else you pick things up quickly and you stand out compared

to the other kids but here's the hidden cost when you get praised for being smart what people are usually praising is not hard work it's effortless success you were praised when you solved the problem quickly when you got an A without trying when you understood something the first time and over time you start to internalize a very dangerous idea if I'm smart things should be easy for me and that belief will quietly sabotage everything once you grow older because the moment something isn't easy when you struggle when you fail when you don't understand something right

away it doesn't feel like a normal challenge it feels like a threat to your identity because you tell yourself if I'm supposed to be smart smart then why am I struggling so instead of Leaning into difficulty you start avoiding it you don't raise your hand unless you're sure you don't play games unless you know you'll win you don't pursue things you could love because they might expose you as someone who maybe isn't so smart and slowly your life starts to narrow you only do what you're already good at you stick to familiar territory you protect

your image and your identity of the perfect smart kid instead of trying new things and that's the crap because while everyone else is out there experimenting trying failing developing you're locked inside a shrinking comfort zone and the longer that goes on the harder it becomes to leave and at some point you realize you've built a whole identity on something that now feels fragile you can't afford to fail you can't afford to look stupid you can't afford to threaten what you built your whole identity on so you stall and that's when the isolation starts to set

in because when you stop growing you also stop connecting think about it connection comes from shared activities being on a team going through awkward stages together or working hard towards something and if you start opting out of those things if you remove yourself from the situations where other people Bond you miss the moments that create real friendships and connection you don't join the club because you're afraid you'll be bad at it you don't try the sport because it's unfamiliar you avoid group projects because they frustrate you and without realizing it you start stepping out of

the flow of social life but you still crave connection right so what do you do you lean on what you know your intelligence you try to understand people instead of relating to them you analyze You observe you run simulations in your head and this leads to something called cognitive empathy where you can understand what others feel logically but you don't emotionally engage with them and it works up to a point you can navigate conversations you can keep up socially you might even seem charismatic on the surface but underneath you're exhausted because instead of just being

with people you're calculating you're constantly thinking about what to say how to respond what they might be thinking so now socializing also becomes something you have to be good at and to avoid failing at it you start avoiding it this is where the loneliness deepens but you're smart right you should be able to figure this out so you start applying logic to emotional problems you try to fix your self-esteem with rationality you write out arguments to convince yourself you're fine you analyze your own behavior to death and none of it helps because intelligence wasn't designed

to fix emotional pain it's not a tool for selfworth it's a tool for solving external problems and when you try to use it to feel okay inside it just keeps looping because there's no intellectual answer to the question am I enough that question can only be answered emotionally and for smart kids emotional growth is often the one thing that got left behind and when the emotional pain becomes too sharp when the loneliness starts to feel unbearable that's when the ego steps in and forms one final defense you tell yourself I'm just different from other people

I don't relate because they're not as smart I'm too deep for surface level friendships and now instead of admitting that you're lonely you convince yourself that you're above everyone else not because you actually believe it but because it hurts less than admitting you feel left out this is what we call defensive arrogance and it's one of the most isolating patterns you can fall into it creates a wall between you and everyone else and even when you want connection the wall doesn't let you reach for it because connection requires humility it requires presence it requires being

seen and vulnerable so how do we fix this the first step and this is non-negotiable is that you have to stop identifying as the smart kid you have to let that identity go not because being intelligent is bad but because basing your self-worth on it is toxic when your value is tied to how easily you succeed you will do everything in your power to avoid effort avoid failure and avoid situations that might prove you're not exceptional you'll sabotage progress just to protect protect the illusion and eventually that illusion will collapse so the fix is to

build a new identity not around being smart but around being willing to grow you stop asking what will make me look intelligent and you start asking what will help me move forward you stop protecting your pride and start embracing discomfort you let yourself try things and be bad at them you start showing up not to win but to participate and yeah it's awkward it's uncomfortable it feels like a step backward but it's not because it's the first real step toward becoming whole the old identity told you that your value came from being special the new

one reminds you that your value comes from being human and being human means you're allowed to be uncertain you're allowed to grow slowly you're allowed to feel lost you're allowed to not know what the hell you're doing half the time but the only way forward is to take action anyway not perfect action not clever action just honest imperfect human steps forward so if you're someone who feels stuck or numb or chronically disconnected if you've spent your whole life trying to be the smartest person in the room and now you don't know how to be anything

else this is where you begin you let go of the story you stop trying to be impressive you start trying to be real because you don't need to be the smartest person in the room to belong in it you just need to be someone who's willing to show up even when it's hard even when it's messy even when it's unfamiliar and if you can do that if you can stop clinging to the version of yourself that needs to be above it all you'll start to feel something you haven't felt in a long time connection not

because you earned it not because you deserved it but because you were finally willing to step down from the pedestal and into the world where the rest of the people live and it turns out that world isn't so bad in fact it's the only place where you can truly be seen and more important it's the only place where you can finally feel at home so if any part of this resonated with you if you recognize yourself in these patterns or felt something click that you haven't quite been able to put into words before leave a

comment and let me know what stood out chances are you're not the only one who feels this way and sometimes naming the pattern is the first real step to breaking it thanks for listening to the let's talk psychology podcast take care of your mind and I'll see you in the next episode