I wanted to share a couple of thoughts, because after reading the comments here, there seems to be some kind of discomfort with the word "gifted". I too, felt like the paper described what I've been through, but completely rejected the idea of being gifted, as it should be, because it furthers marginalizes the self from society. I believe that with some effort through introspection, reading and practicing everybody could have similar opinions or knowledge as the people described in those pages. But I had to look into what gifted meant to the author first before assuring my discomfort and luckily, I found a couple of definitions on the website, which are different at what everybody here is thinking he meant.
"Gifted and talented children are those identified by professionally qualified persons who by virtue of outstanding abilities are capable of high performance." I want to note the word "capable". A lot of you, I'm sure, have come to realize that you learn fast, and faster than most people around you, and that you have different interests: sports, music, intellectually, leadership etc. That means that you don't have to be as Mozart or Einstein to enter that definition of gifted.
The second thing I wanted to say was a little bit of my experience. Yes, I'm an idealist and have strong emotions. After realizing the joke that society is I became conflicted. First, because I came to realize that we all are at fault of "this way of life" by playing along with it. Second, because I can't do anything about it to accomplish the ideal world that I sought. And lastly, because nobody that I knew thought or felt like I did, and that, made me different and felt alone. I read some books that further threw me into the abyss, because I hadn't experience enough or wasn't mature enough intellectually to understand the good in them. Especially Camus' "The stranger", a novel that talks about the absurdity of life.
To make my comment shorter so that you don't get bored. I read Sartre, and found in paragraph what life represents for me, and that set me "free", as I'm an atheist, that knew there was no meaning to life, and thus, felt my existence and everything I did irrelevant:
“Man is condemned to be free: condemned, because he did not create himself, yet nonetheless free, because once cast into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.”
For me, that was how I started to feel ok. I was free to do everything I wanted, but I too, was responsible of everything, "good" and "wrong" of the consequences. That meant "I was" what "I did", not what I thought me to be; Seneca gave a great example when he said: "A coward, makes himself a coward", and I didn't want to be a coward anymore. It was time to live what I thought life should be. And then, I read Seneca's letters to Lucilius, and found in them, agreeable and useful ways in living a more content life. And it has led me to a better path (individually speaking), "the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference".
Actually I didn't know there was a book about that. I remember reading a post of a guy doing that here on HN though. I had some savings and an opportunity arose, after some serious doubts and thinking, I took the leap. But for those who have a startup or do freelance work, I think it's highly probable to be able to do it as well.
I have also a friend who does UI/UX web development who's been doing this for a couple of years too.
Long story short: tried it twice, the second time was the charm as a freelancer. Earning less money as I was full time, but steadily going up and getting close. Sidenote: changed my life, I'm more productive in general.
Don't want to make a blogpost of a comment. The how? It depends on two things mostly: lifestyle and family. As I'm 25 and single it was easier for me to do that because I can tweak my lifestyle as I want. I think it's a bigger challenge for those who have someone to support. And by tweaking I mean push yourself little by little to spend less, you get used to it quickly.
"Gifted and talented children are those identified by professionally qualified persons who by virtue of outstanding abilities are capable of high performance." I want to note the word "capable". A lot of you, I'm sure, have come to realize that you learn fast, and faster than most people around you, and that you have different interests: sports, music, intellectually, leadership etc. That means that you don't have to be as Mozart or Einstein to enter that definition of gifted.
The second thing I wanted to say was a little bit of my experience. Yes, I'm an idealist and have strong emotions. After realizing the joke that society is I became conflicted. First, because I came to realize that we all are at fault of "this way of life" by playing along with it. Second, because I can't do anything about it to accomplish the ideal world that I sought. And lastly, because nobody that I knew thought or felt like I did, and that, made me different and felt alone. I read some books that further threw me into the abyss, because I hadn't experience enough or wasn't mature enough intellectually to understand the good in them. Especially Camus' "The stranger", a novel that talks about the absurdity of life.
To make my comment shorter so that you don't get bored. I read Sartre, and found in paragraph what life represents for me, and that set me "free", as I'm an atheist, that knew there was no meaning to life, and thus, felt my existence and everything I did irrelevant:
“Man is condemned to be free: condemned, because he did not create himself, yet nonetheless free, because once cast into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.”
For me, that was how I started to feel ok. I was free to do everything I wanted, but I too, was responsible of everything, "good" and "wrong" of the consequences. That meant "I was" what "I did", not what I thought me to be; Seneca gave a great example when he said: "A coward, makes himself a coward", and I didn't want to be a coward anymore. It was time to live what I thought life should be. And then, I read Seneca's letters to Lucilius, and found in them, agreeable and useful ways in living a more content life. And it has led me to a better path (individually speaking), "the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference".