Everyone is talented in their own way.
I love to travel. I love experiencing culture and watching the fascinating way it shapes and moulds humanity. I like observing the small waving body of an Ethiopian child or watching an Italian make a cup of coffee. I like watching a French man pick out a suit or an African-American woman watching her favourite reality show. I picking out the unique mix of influences that make each and every person on the planet unique.
When we grow up we often think that some people are smart and some are dumb. Our schooling system judges humans on their ability to sit in a room and listen to a teacher, but the fact of the matter is that intelligence is SO much more than that. Each person has their own unique strengths and weaknesses. I’m reminded of the story/film: “The Help,” in which one of the main characters sits down with the little girl and tells her “you is KIND and you is SMART.” It probably changed that little girl’s life.
Take my group of friends, for example: There’s Tom. He’s an architect and he’s good at precision and finding practical solutions. Then there’s Kate. She’s good with people and is friends with the entire Universe, or so it feels. My other friend Candy is a designer and she’s good with detail and colour. Then there’s Tony and he always, always has a good joke up his sleeve. It makes me sad to think that we’re taught that some of us are intelligent and some not. Actually we should be taught we are all intelligent in different areas.
There are 9 types of intelligence and it may help to know what you are good at so that you can pick a career which links with your strengths.
Spatial – This means visualizing the world in 3D. These people enjoy the outdoors and are able to picture things in their mind with a great deal of accuracy.
Intrapersonal – this skill is understanding yourself, what you feel and what you want.
Linguistic – this person is good with words and expressing themself.
Naturalist – this person understands living things and the world around them
Musical – the musical person can discern sounds, their pitch, tone and rhythm.
Logical – the logical person is your mathematician. They like quantifying things, making hypotheses and proving themselves.
Bodily kinesthetic – the sports people. They are good at coordinating your mind with your body.
Interpersonal – sensing people’s feelings and motives. These are the mind readers, the ‘good with people’ people.
Existential – these are the deep ones. They spend time tackling the question of why we live, and why we die.
There is the test and you can take it and try figure out your stuff. I took it and found out that I am strong in linguistic, existential and intrapersonal – go figure. Hahaha, I knew that but I haven’t always.
At some stage of our lives we have to accept that we got what we got. We can’t wish to be him or her because it isn’t going to make us him or her. It’s going to make us a shoddy, grey version of ourselves which is far, far worse. God made you you. And he did it for a good reason.
So much of the world is caught up in the “if only” idea. The “if only” I was good at maths. The if only I had her hair and thighs. I look at people who have stood out in time for the right reasons. They weren’t trying to be someone else. They weren’t fighting what they were given. They embraced what they were given, they had a grateful attitude and then they started working on things. The more time you spend trying to be someone else, the more time you waste of being you.
Embrace your own form of intelligence. “You’re lucky enough to be different, never change”
― Taylor Swift. Thanks Taylor, you’re onto something.