intelligence...

Have you ever been intimidated by someone because of how "smart" they are? 

Fall quarter of my sophomore year in college, Brett took me to a party that his fellow students in the Honors Tutorial College were hosting. Most of these kids were valedictorians with perfect SAT scores and at school on full rides.They had majors like physics engineering, astrophysics, and others I can't pronounce or explain. I was terrified about how I was going to interact with these people. I was a TV and film major. I wasn't on the same level at all. (<---calling myself out on the nasty negative self talk)

I got into a conversation with one the geekiest dude at the party and I'm not joking... I couldn't understand ANYTHING he was talking about. When he stopped speaking long enough for me to get a word in I stuttered and told him I recently saw, and fell in love with Sweeney Todd, the musical. What?! Why did I say that? He had no idea what I was talking about and immediately excused himself to get a drink. I never went to another event with Brett and that gang of master minds again.

No one ever told me I was stupid. I got above average grades and into a great university, but I was told several times throughout school that I "didn't test well." It was then I decided that because of my test scores I was dumb, and for the rest of my life I would be unable to have conversations with “smart” people. I went off to college armed with common sense and with the mentality that I was a "feeler." I feel a lot. I can write and sing and awkwardly move my body to express my emotions but I can’t have conversations about politics or global warming. I’m just not as smart as the people who study those things and I never will be.

This ludicrous way of thinking has completely limited my growth by steering me away from studying certain topics that I've deemed above me. Blah! As I approach my very, very late twenties, I ask myself, why not? Why can't I have an opinion on global warming? I don't have to be an expert to engage in meaningful conversation. If I'm curious, I can read or ask questions. Reading and asking questions has never made anyone stupid, right?

Never count yourself out of something. We all have something uniquely beautiful to bring to the game. (Tweet) The only limitations we have are the ones we place on ourselves. If you have something to say, say it.