It's not the worst problem in the world to have, but it is something I've been grappling with: the problem with being a "gifted child" and growing up with that designation is that one begins to believe that anything is possible if one works hard enough. This works fairly well, if you're lucky, all the way through college.
The downside of this orientation comes when Real Life rears its head (whenever that happens). Eventually, one comes up against an obstacle (either within or without) that cannot be surmounted by any amount of effort. Faced with an unwonted failure, the interpretation must be that there just wasn't enough effort put forth (itself a failure).
WORK HARDER goes the internal refrain, until it breaks. There are cases where all the effort in the world is just not enough, and it's nobody's fault. Time to let it go? Undoubtedly.
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