Recently, I was talking to a co-worker about a picture I had run across on FaceBook.
He thought it was funny and asked, ‘Are all of you guys crazy?’
‘No’, I replied but then went on to expand upon my answer. I explained that we’re pretty much like everyone else, but a little more intense.
‘What do you mean?’ he asked.
‘Well, a lot of us are very knowledgeable in very specific areas… more so than the average person. We tend to research things that we’re curious about, in order to learn or gain a better understanding about a subject matter. And many of us are quite passionate about our points-of-view. Sometimes that passion is mistaken for being crazy. But that’s not to say some of us aren’t ‘touched in the head’, I said smiling.
‘So, some of you are mentally unstable?’ he prodded.
I did my best to answer… ‘Of course! It just stands to reason that a certain percentage of any population will have problems… whether it’s mental illness, specific health issues, and so on and so forth. I’ve read articles that attribute a higher instance of mental illness to highly intelligent people and I’ve read articles that say there’s no correlation between the two. I think it has a lot to do with how people identify and deal with potential mental health problems. That’s true for the super smart people and those who aren’t.’
‘Alright. Answer me this. Looking at the scale, where are you? he asked.
‘Oh, dude… you really don’t want to know!’ I remarked, laughing… and walked away.