10 Specific Struggles Only Highly Intelligent People Will Ever Truly Understand
pedro7merino | Shutterstock While intelligent people are often "set up for success" in relationships, work environments, and alone time, because of their intentionality and thoughtful thinking processes, they also manage a lot of struggles that the average person doesn't see. Everyone wants to be smarter and more intelligent, but the reality of these people's lives is often more deeply nuanced than we realize.
From always thinking the worst to struggling to find belonging and community, there are many specific struggles only highly intelligent people will ever truly understand. Especially if they grew up with a pressure to "prove" their intelligence and outperform others, they've likely fallen into an adult routine characterized by worry, anxiety, and isolation.
Here are 10 specific struggles only highly intelligent people will ever truly understand
1. Always considering the 'worst-case scenario'
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Many high-IQ people struggle with pessimistic attitudes and always thinking about the "worst-case scenario" because they're innately more aware of all the scary, complex things in life. From reading deeply into news headlines and stories that other people skim and crafting thinking styles that always encourage them to make connections, they exist with a mind that always reminds them of the worst things that could happen.
This is just a small part of the more nuanced reason why intelligent people are more at risk for developing mental health struggles and psychological disorders, as a study from Intelligence explains.
2. Meeting unrealistic standards
Whether the pressure to succeed is self-inflicted by perfectionist attitudes or externally imposed by stereotypes about "gifted" people and "proving" intelligence, meeting standards and expectations that are entirely too high to achieve are some of the specific struggles only highly intelligent people will ever truly understand.
Not only do these pressures cultivate unnecessary pressure, stress, and anxiety in these high-IQ people's daily lives, but they also struggle with ignoring their own needs and weaknesses to focus on achieving, as experts from Harvard Business Review explain.
3. Constantly overthinking and worrying
According to a study published in Frontiers in Evolutionary Neuroscience, intelligent people are more likely to have higher levels of worry and anxiety in their everyday lives. They overthink things and struggle to "turn off" their minds when they're anxious, leading to spirals of intense rumination and isolation.
Whether these spirals negatively impact mental health, personal relationships, or the alone time that they're supposed to cherish to unwind, they often feel the symptoms daily of being chronic overthinkers and worriers.
4. Constantly competing with others
Considering many former "gifted kids" and intelligent adults feel a pressure to constantly "prove" their intelligence, it's not necessarily surprising that social comparison and competition become second nature in their routines. While these experiences aren't necessarily isolated to intelligence folks, many do feel a heightened sense of obligation to remind others of their skills and traits.
Not only does this tend to create a sense of internal guilt when they choose to do nothing or rest, but it also strains the social relationships and connections that are supposed to bring them joy in life.
5. Feeling chronically misunderstood
Especially for smart women, whose intelligence and assertiveness are often misconstrued as arrogance, feeling misunderstood is a pillar of their human experience. With pressure to prove, compete, compare, and "grind" in their daily lives, it's no surprise that other people struggle to empathize or connect with them when they're stuck in this mentality.
Much like introverted people are often misunderstood for their preference for alone time and quietness, smart people are often judged for their self-awareness and ambitions, even if they're simultaneously yearning for connection and belonging.
6. Feeling impatient with ignorance
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While many high-IQ people are patient and emotionally regulated in their everyday lives, according to a study from Economic Letters, when faced with ignorance, weaponized incompetence, and inefficiency, they struggle to tolerate it.
Whether it's in the workplace with a lazy co-worker or trying to have a deep conversation with someone who accepts conspiracy theories as facts, they struggle to think on a superficial level to match that of others, and often find themselves annoyed and impatient easily.
7. Dealing with existential crises often
According to licensed professional counselor Samuel Kohlenberg, many intelligent people, who have a tendency toward complex and abstract thinking patterns, are more at risk for frequent existential crises in their lives than others. They see life through a much deeper lens than most people, and on top of planning and worrying about the worst-case scenario, they're often drained by the reality of headlines, worldly issues, and social injustice.
They can't simply pass over a scary news story or the reality of their lives, as most avoidant, ignorant people can, which is why existential crises are some of the specific struggles they often deal with on their own.
8. Social exhaustion
Considering many intelligent people have introverted tendencies, it's not surprising that they're often coping with social exhaustion. Especially if they don't have a strong social circle to build meaningful relationships and have deep conversations, they're always draining their social batteries with superficiality and small talk.
They crave a kind of meaning and depth to satisfy the deep thinking patterns that they can't often get from workplace conversations or interactions with strangers, which sparks a pattern of fatigue and loneliness quickly, without close friends and loved ones around.
9. Constantly criticizing and judging themselves
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With tendencies to hold themselves to high standards, compete with peers, and compare themselves in social settings to prove their intelligence, it's not surprising that many high-IQ people struggle consistently with negative self-talk, criticism, and inner judgment.
While it might feel like an inescapable part of their minds at times to boost motivation and discipline, a study from Scientific Reports actually found that negative self-talk and harm stall cognitive processes. So, by speaking down on themselves and shaming themselves through unsustainable routines, they actually sabotage the intelligence they need to move through life.
10. Difficulty with community and belonging
For many high-IQ people, it's incredibly difficult for them to find their "people" who share similar thinking patterns and intelligence. Especially considering they struggle with the small talk that leads to stronger, more meaningful relationships, they often find themselves in cycles of loneliness, oversharing, and social isolation.
They're inherently prosocial people, but without the right environments, people, and communities to connect with, they're often lonely.
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a senior editorial strategist with a bachelor's degree in social relations & policy and gender studies who focuses on psychology, relationships, self-help, and human interest stories.
