guys/girls, how do you feel about dating someone you are smarter than?
curious because i've always been insecure about it. i have a learning disability in math and perform at a much lower grade level.
my girlfriend is an artist and majored in art and english literature. yet i'm far more well-read than her in literature, am arguably a better artist and writer and of the two of us i'm the one currently in the process of a publishing company startup. she's also agreed hands down that i'm smarter than her despite her being older since i can tell you tons of useless fact shit about geography, history, i know the extensive history behind the opium wars and shit like that whereas when i start down one of these long lectures she'll just stare at me like "uhhh". there are two reasons for this: a: i never felt a classroom conducive to my learning experience (since the education system is fucking shit, it was concieved at the turn of the century during the industrial revolution when little worker bees were needed and the system is therefore a way to create workers, yes men, not leaders and innovators. if there was something i was interested in during my high school days i went out and i learned about it first-hand. i read tons of books that interested me, i went to writer's guild meetings and read about all of the cliche's and processes of the industry. i self-published my first full-length novel when i was 19, it failed spectacularly because i knew next to nothing about marketing, promotion and advertising. so what did i do? i got into sales, started working sales jobs, learning how to market, promote and advertise and reach and engage existing and potential customers. when i decided i wanted to start a publishing company what did i do? went into other publishing companies, introduced myself as their potential competition and asked to go over their processes and strategies with them. i then realized i knew next to nothing about running a business or handling finances... so i got a job as a customer service rep at a bank, essentially a loan officer. handling day-to-day finances, helping out with business accounting and handling customer processes, all the stuff i'd need for my own company. b: i was alone a lot when i was younger. as a kid i had a lot of time to learn because i never spent time partying, having sex or drinking or even hanging out really. i had no one to hang out with. so my time was simply divided between me and... me. i learned everything i needed to and now it's all coming back to benefit me. don't get me wrong my gf's party days (which still continue now) were great, but they deprived her of the potential learning time she could have had to my level.
A. It’s difficult to assess the seriousness of this on the basis of only a letter so let me just share a couple of thoughts.

People by nature tend to fall somewhere on a scale from introvert to extrovert. It may be that at least part of this is that you are on the introvert end of the scale. There is nothing wrong with that! But, the larger culture celebrates extroverts. In high school, the general idea is that everyone is supposed to be outgoing and popular. Of course, not everyone can be. Not everyone wants to be. So let’s at least assume that part of what goes on is that you have a more restrained approach to life. One thing that supports this is that you do have a couple of close friends and that seems to be enough for you.

As for being out with others: I wonder if you have developed the skills you need to be comfortable out in the social world. Introverts can and do learn how to manage social situations enough so that they can be successful in their careers and can find loving relationships. Notice that I said “skills”. Skills are behaviors you can learn (like how to make small talk, how to be an active listener, how to be a good communicator, etc.). As you get more practiced in these skills, you will be more comfortable being with people for longer periods of time. But you will still need your alone time to “recover” from a lot of social interaction.

The line in your letter that does worry me is your statement that you can spend hours holed up in your room and in bed. Yes, you may need time to recharge your social batteries but it would do a lot more for your self-esteem if you would use that time to pursue an interest or to do something to make the world a better place. Think about ways to support a cause or candidate or to educate yourself about something you are genuinely interested in. You will feel better about yourself than if you just hang out wondering if there is something wrong with you. An important bonus is that it will give you more to talk about when you are with people.

I hope this is helpful. I wish you well.  
 Dr. Marie

I Want or Need to Be Alone hi lg, <br>it&#39;ll be interesting to see ( after the weekend, when most readers will be back ) what other people think of the situation you describe. it sounds as if your parents probably are a bit too strict, but with all they hear and see of the dangers of the world today, one can understand their fears  and its even worse when parents don&#39;t care at all. sometimes they may seem to be hypocritical, when they&#39;re actually trying to get you to avoid mistakes they made. your sister sounds immature and spiteful. what would they think if you said you wanted to see a shrink or counsellor to work on the problems they have identified in your behaviour ? ( that way, it makes it harder for them to object  and indeed these diferent perceptions of what is a "problem") ought to be part of what you&#39;d discuss with a counsellor. be cautious about your overdose idea  apart from the obvious dangers to yourself, it&#39;d surely also give them much sronger grounds for being even stricter, which is the exact opposite of what you want to achieve. when you hit puberty you will begin to catch up with your friends and in fact you may become taller than them in the long-term.<br><br>be patient with yourself, trust your body to begin growing when its ready. wow marlboro! yikes! ouch! even though i&#39;ve been working with queer issues for many years i am still struck by what you&#39;ve told us. it is a very sad reflection on our society, where same-sex marriage is legal, that parents can throw gay youth out of their homes. ignorance and prejudice run very deep.<br><br>what are your ages?<br> love beats a paid cellphone every time ! and sometimes, though its sad for the firstborn to witness, moms andf even dads may learn something from their mistakes the first time round, and deal with a later child rather better twin!!!!!how do u feel they r different?and how do u break up with someone and then you meet the same image next day but with different emotions.i'm confused. @a myfibroteam member 

how nice of you to say that. i, like many others, have asked god why? why am i the one who has this painful, incurable illness? why am i the one with major depressive disorder? why am i the one that was sexually assaulted so many times? why am i the one who has had to take care of my sister’s children, help them pay for their educations, and support them as they navigate the waters of this crazy world we live in? why me? i made a conscious decision a few years ago, when my lifelong emotional scares got out of control, that i would make one of the answers to those questions be “to help others navigate through this thing called life”. if i can help just one person feel less alone, or like someone cares, or like there is hope after all i will have succeed at life. if i can help just one person fight back instead of giving in my life has a purpose. as a result, this normally very private person has gradually learned to be very open. i am not ashamed of the things that happened...disappointed or angry yes but not ashamed. i talk openly about how major depressive disorder has affected my life and how i’ve been able to come to terms with it. i talk openly about close brushes with suicide and what worked to get me back to a better place mentally. i talk a little less openly about the impact sexual assault had on every aspect of my life (that one is harder because i’m still working on some of the emotions and reactions around it). i talk openly about the changes i’m having to make as fibromyalgia makes itself more and more obvious in me. i’m not perfect. i still get angry and upset. i still get frustrated. i still feel hopeless sometimes. i feel all the negative emotions everyone else does but if i can help just one person, i will have a reason for all i’ve gone through. perhaps people on this site are that reason. it is my deepest hope that others don’t have to suffer as i have but, if they have, i want to use my god-given caregiver heart to help them through. 

may god bless and keep you. 

shirley HM ok, another day, another try, but I gotta say: The seemingly endless lessons about numbers and numbers on top of numbers and more numbers are really disencouraging me a lot. It's been a lot of fun up to this point, but I really don't see the point in filling out so much about numbers for the sake of numbers o\_o Could you, like, do a little less of that? Your girl sees you like a partner, and a little like a big brother under that umbrella. Now imagine telling that to your 5 year old little sister. Wouldn't she do the same thing? It's not particularly that she is just sad, is that she sees that you don't want to be her partner. Instead, what you want to do is to push the fun for later and respect that engagement. yeah, break up with her, so then she can find a guy better than you. dude, are you kidding me? that's how relationships are, theres going to be arguments and sometimes theres going to be insecurities, and if you're not smart enough to realize she just actually really cares, then you should break up with her so she has a chance with a guy that will.