These are questions not uncommonly asked by gifted adults. Yet raised with only an academic understanding of giftedness, most gifted adults fail to recognize the true nature of their issues. In this episode we will explore the true nature of giftedness, and discuss how these two fundamental traits are critical for understanding the answers to life’s most challenging questions.

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The novel I am writing for this year’s NaNo is actually an idea I came up with while I was serving in Iraq a few years ago. Somewhere around August of that year our little 13-man team had been told we would be flying home soon. So after we finished tearing down our training center and wandered back across the open desert to the nearest firm base, we began the very frustrating process of trying to coordinate a flight. Every day we would gather all of our stuff, wander up to the flight line, sit on the side of the runway while one of us went up to the flight boss in hopes of negotiating a ride home. Every day we were told to come back the next day. This went on for ten days straight.

As I wrote about last week, I seem to do my best writing when I am trapped in a situation and am forced to make due with it. I didn’t have this insight back then, at least not enough to verbalize it. What I did have was 23.5 hours until the next time we would try to fly, and my trusty MacBook Pro. So, sitting in a little hut with no air conditioning and no where to go, I started writing down ideas for a book. This turned into characters, which turned into a plot, which turned into a full-blown story line which I outlined in detail using a flow chart format. I did this on the first day. The second day I started to write. By day 10 as I stepped onto the C5 Galaxy and left that sandy mess of a country for the last time, I had written 37,000 words. Not bad for a week and a half.

Last week I finished 15,000 words, which I thought was a great start to the month, especially considering it was the first time I have picked up this project since arriving home almost exactly two years ago. And since I was writing a story I had begun over there, and it was the second anniversary of my return home, I couldn’t help but reminisce.

What I started to see looking back really surprised me, and I thought I’d share some of what combat taught me about being creative.

A built-in pressure relief valve

In the years since coming home I have been a very happy guy. This is actually somewhat surprising to me, believe it or not. After sitting through hundreds of hours of briefings about PTSD I was beginning to think that I was destined to suffer its fate somehow. Truth be told, I actually spent a lot of time thinking about this while I was over there. Thankfully I have been given a clean bill of health after every checkup since returning home. Unfortunately, several of my friends that lived through the same experiences suffer PTSD today. Some of their symptoms are relatively minor; others are quite severe.

So what do I attribute this to? Well, there are dozens of factors, and almost none of them have anything to do with me. But one factor that I do attribute to my healthy return is that while I was there, I did something creative every single day. I wrote every chance I got. I kept a journal, I wrote poems, I wrote letters to anyone that would write to me. Aside from writing, I found other ways to get creative too. When we finished building our camp and started training folks in military tactics, I saw that we didn’t have anywhere to sit down outside. After a long day of grueling work, I just wanted a place to relax and unwind. So, I taught myself woodworking, and before anyone knew it I had made an entire campfire-type area filled with Adirondack Chairs and benches. I even made my own hammock out of 550 cord during a particularly long sandstorm.

What I can see now is that while I was engaged in these activities, I was actually processing things that I had experienced. I was in essence unloading the emotional baggage that had accumulated from the prolonged stress of working under such conditions. I think getting creative allowed me to somehow “get out of my head” and process things, almost on an unconscious level. I would just zone out while cutting wood or writing out poems, or sketching landscapes in pencil on the back of a cardboard box. It didn’t matter what I was doing, it all seemed to have the same effect. You too may have noticed that your own creativity turns up in frequency when times get tough. Creativity seems to be almost like a built-in pressure relief valve for some people. The danger then is not knowing this about ourselves, and choosing to refrain from doing something creative because we don’t feel like it. Looking back, I think being creative had a lot to do with me coming home with relatively few emotional and psychological wounds, especially when compared to some of my other service members who only sought to play video games or watch movies on their free time.

Stress is my strongest muse

Undoubtedly my ferocious pace at writing two years ago was made possible by the fact that I was so anxious about coming home. I would have done anything to pass the time. But as I consider what elements were at play during those ten days on the flight line, I can see that stress had a major role to play in both my motivation and inspiration.

I have always worked better on a deadline. I have known this about myself for a long time now. For some reason I do not do well with the “spread it out” approach. I prefer to procrastinate and wait until the deadline is looming, and then somehow with this added pressure behind me I can turn on the juice and get everything done.

This is probably very familiar to most of you. It is a well-known phenomenon seen commonly in gifted children, often to the dismay and consternation of parents and teachers. If I were more “logical” I would use the entire two months to work on the project gradually and in stages. But I have never worked that way. Call it lack of discipline if you’d like. All I know is that the pressure works.

But that pressure and stress is not limited to just providing motivation. I have found that pressure really encourages inspiration for me as well. For instance, if I just sit around and try to brainstorm for a project that has no timeframe, I will often sputter and wander around for hours, barely able to write down any ideas at all. When I sit down to come up with ideas for a project due in two or three days, I can come up with dozens of ideas in only a few minutes! Just look at the flight line example. I had outlined the entire book, complete with descriptions of characters and settings in one day. So, for me, activities like National Novel Writing Month work great because they put me in the very scenario that I am at my creative best.

A fly on the wall

When people experience traumatic events that are too horrific to discuss, often they will dissociate. Essentially dissociation is the separation of mind from body for a brief period of time. Some would describe it as being a fly on the wall, looking down on their own body. It is a defense mechanism that can be seen most commonly in young people, especially those that experience sexual assault or other traumatic events. These are things that their young minds are not equipped to handle. So, in a desperate attempt to escape the horrors that are happening to them in that moment, dissociation occurs.

While the entirety of my experience in Iraq was not filled with chaos and violence, the few times that things got really bad were enough to give anyone nightmares. What was particularly dangerous to me was that things would happen in an instant- far too fast to realize what was going on. But the lingering after effects: the images, the sounds, the smells… those are the elements that make telling those stories rather unpleasant.

The book I am writing now is based in the same region that I lived and worked in Iraq. I had not originally intended to write about any of my stories, but as I really delved into this project and began to write action scenes, it became quite easy to borrow from some of my own experiences. I would splice in bits and pieces of my own memories into the scenes. What I noticed was that I was able to do this without much trouble. What was more interesting to me was that I was essentially telling some of the most gruesome parts of what I had seen, but without the anxiety or emotional turmoil that I would often experience before.

I have heard many say that authors should not include themselves in their stories. Personally, I think that there is something to be said about writers using personal experiences as inspiration. I am not sure that it is possible to completely remove onesself from the process of writing fiction anyway. But for me, writing this book has allowed me to tell my story through a proxy, which somehow has taken away the fear and horror of it all. No longer am I reliving those events as I tell them, but now my character is living them; I am merely the fly on the wall watching it all happen.

That might seem morbid or disturbing to some. Perhaps it is. But that is the nature of combat. What I choose to do with my experiences and how I choose to deal with their after effects has very little to do with others’ opinions, and very much to do with how I will continue to live my life having been there and done that. To me, allowing those bits and pieces to come out in my writing has been a very therapeutic experience. I would hesitate to call it enjoyable… but I certainly have been having a lot of fun writing this thing.

This is probably not as novel a concept as I am making it out to be. After all, artists for centuries have been painting and sculpting images that give form to their inner experiences. You may find yourself pouring out your emotions into a creative work, only later to feel free of that burden you were carrying before. I guess I had never really considered what a useful tool being creative could be to allow those inner experiences to come out until now.

So, they may seem like odd lessons to learn, but they are valuable to me. Reflecting back on experiences has always seemed like the most effective method of learning. In my case understanding how my own creativity works to keep me sane and healthy has taught me a lot about myself. Of the many qualities we may possess, interestingly enough, creativity may be the biggest and most critical to our survival.

 p.s. no funny comments on the mustache. It was a phase…

I was sitting in a very long staff meeting today that was dragging on and on. As the time for us to wrap things up came and went with no end in sight, I found myself daydreaming excessively about my characters and plot. In fact, I thought about them so much that by the time the meeting was over I had completely outlined my next chapter. After the meeting I raced to my office and jotted down the entire thing in bullet points within a few minutes, all from memory.

Afterwards I considered how unique (or not) this was. If someone had told me that they found their best creativity came from a crowded room full of people vying to be heard above one another, going around in circles with no apparent agenda, I would think they were crazy. Yet that’s what I was thinking to myself- I actually do my best brainstorming when I am “trapped”.

When I am in a place like a board meeting, or an airport layover, or a long train ride to work I find it much easier to engage in creative thinking than when I sit down in a quiet room all by myself. My theory is that the creative thinking serves as entertainment in an otherwise boring situation. Or it could be that (in the case of the board meeting at work) that when I am in the presence of group think and @ss kissing and inflated egos, and all other manners of obnoxious workplace behaviors, creativity is the only thing that makes it all bearable, or makes me feel human?

Whatever the reason behind it, I just know that I found it a very useful environmental condition to brainstorm; one that I will almost certainly use again.

What about you? What kinds of environmental conditions do you find most useful or conducive to creative thinking?

Hello, everyone! It has been quite a while since I publish a podcast episode. So, I thought it would be only fitting to discuss why that is in this first episode in over a year!

You’ll also hear me mention Ben Gleib, who is a really funny comedian that I discovered through Ayisha Tyler’s podcast, Girl on Guy. I was super inspired by this guy’s willingness to really bring his ideas out and share them with the world.

Oh, one last thing: I forgot to mention in the podcast that I need to ask others to rank the podcast in iTunes. This is very important in order for the podcast to grow and reach more potential listeners, so please go to iTunes, rank the podcast, and post a comment while you’re there. I greatly appreciate it.

Thanks for tuning in!

-Eric

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This weekend I hopped on the bike and headed to upstate New York to scout out a potential school for the next step in my education. I thought I’d share a quick trip report and show some of the more aesthetic points of this truly amazing trip.

Wisconsin to New York, two days round-trip.

I started out from my farm in southeastern Wisconsin with a beautiful sunny sky overhead and lots of blue skies. As soon as I passed through Chicago (which I did in record time somehow), the skies immediately turned ugly. Sure enough, it rained for about an hour and a half, which made for an interesting first leg of the trip. It was not without its perks, however.

No need to wash the bike...

Things were pretty dull for about ⅔ of the trip out there, due mostly to a few states who’s names I will omit out of respect. (Just fill in the blanks between Wisconsin and Pennsylvania). Once I got into PA, however, things started getting interesting.

Fall colors begin to emerge

Colors started becoming more vibrant, elevation started changing (finally), and best of all, that wonderfully familiar smell of fall began to permeate everything. Riding a motorcycle is such an experience for the senses. I was so excited to be riding on this trip because I would have totally missed out on the wonderful smells if I were in my car.

As I moved on into New York (the state, not the city) things turned from awesome to idyllic. If you have never been to the state of New York and driven through its amazing landscapes, you cannot seriously claim that you have experienced beauty. It is truly a land unto itself. The villages are quaint, the mountains roll and cascade into one another other creating layers upon layers of wonderful topography. Add to that canvas a rich and vibrant pallet of fall color and the experience becomes absolutely breathtaking. Every crest of a mountain reveals new hidden valleys filled with rustic old barns and peaceful looking farm houses. Shelves of granite stone line the sides of the roadways, whose steely grey appearance contrasts nicely with the foliage, making the colors stand out even more. The roads curve and twist through saddles and valleys, making the otherwise mundane highway travel into an adventure that is at once completely pleasing to the senses.

As I entered the town of Ithaca, I was immediately taken back to those long-past days of my pre-adolescence, back when I only sat in the passenger seat and stared out the window at this tiny haven in the middle of the Finger Lakes region. I remember wondering to myself back then what was so great about it all. If I could reach back in time and inform myself of what an amazing privilege it was to live there, I would. Unfortunately, at the time I did not know what I had. But I think that made this trip so much more fulfilling. Now, fully aware of what a gem of a town Ithaca is, I made my way through the crowded, cobblestone streets, and began to feel like I was coming home.

The Cornell Clock Tower

The campus of Cornell was exactly as I remembered it. Large, sprawling, multidimensional, complex; pleasing on so many levels. I was not aware of this prior to arriving, but I apparently chose Alumni Weekend to visit, so the campus was packed with alums, parents, tour groups, and all manners of people coming and going. At one point I walked past an outdoor theater group. Only a few minutes later I passed a jazz trio performing outdoors. Later I observed a wedding procession led by a New Orleans Style marching band playing tunes like “when the saints go marching in”. The entire wedding procession walked through the campus, guests twirling white parasols and dancing as they made their way. What a way to celebrate a wedding!

Cornell University

After I had finished the business part of my campus tour I decided to take a quick walk down memory lane. I spent my first years of life only about an hour or so from Cornell on a small farm way up in the mountains. I barely remember any of it, but for anyone in my family that visited while we lived there, the experience was so profound that every time they see me they want to do nothing else but talk about how amazing the place was! It has been 30 years since we moved from that farm, and I figured that if I had come this far, I had might as well make the extra effort to visit the place.

The journey out there quickly turned into a post-card-inspiring trip as I passed through some of most amazing mountain towns and farms I had ever seen.

Notice anything odd in this picture?

I did not have an address, but I did remember the name of the town, and I knew the name of the road we lived on because the road dead-ended at our house on top of the mountain. So my trusty GPS got me to the center of the town, and a few minutes of wandering found me the right road.

Halsey Valley, NY. Hard to imagine more humble roots.

The drive up the hill is about a mile and a half long, and is flanked by tall, overarching trees that create a tunnel effect. I had a vague memory that as the road neared the summit of the hill the view became wider and suddenly there would be a large field with a beautiful barn, and at the far end would be our quaint little farm house sitting on the edge of the mountain overlooking the entire valley below.

As I drove the long drive up the road I wondered if I would remember anything of the place at all, or if the memories I had were just fabricated from the stories others have told me. As I came to the very top of the hill, the answer struck me. I was immediately overcome with emotion and tears. There it was, exactly as I had remembered it. The long, dirt road; the field; the barn; the farmhouse; and the view. It was as if I had reached back into the deepest recesses of my memories and connected with a part of me that has been dormant for over 30 years.

Of course, having crested the hill I was now completely exposed and could not turn away without being seen from anyone in the house. I could only imagine what the owner was going to think. I didn’t think they received many visitors up there to begin with, let alone strange men on motorcycles that arrive in tears!

The Farm

I decided that I could not simply see the place and ride away, so I turned off the motorcycle, attempted to compose myself, walked up to the door and rang the doorbell. When the owner came to the door I managed to say “Hi, my name is Eric and I grew up here” before I lost it and returned to tears. Thankfully the owner was not only understanding and welcoming, but she seemed as interested in my visit as I was!

Our barn

We had a great time discussing the property (all 101 acres of it), the farmhouse, and all sorts of fun tid-bits about the wonderful place that we have both called home. She said that her friends and family are enamored with the place the same way that my family was. It has apparently not lost its charm. I spent about 30 minutes walking the property, snapping pictures and trying to take it all in while I could. Such an opportunity seemed so rare that I wanted to make sure to take every advantage of remembering it as I could. She sent me away with a bottle of homemade maple syrup, which was like the icing on the cake since I distinctly remembered my father and mother tapping the maple trees in winter and boiling their own maple syrup. It was an amazing and emotional walk down memory lane.

The view from the patio overlooking all of Halsey Valley

The next morning I was on the road at 5:00 am, greeted by a star-filled sky and crisp cool mountain air. As the stars began to fade the colors really began to come alive. Light pillows of fog dotted the colorful mountain tops.

A ride to remember

For four hours I was completely alone on this highway of color, rising and falling through the landscape, thoroughly enjoying the thrill of the journey and the roar of my bike as it handled the winding mountain roads with graceful power. I must have looked like a complete fool to anyone that could have seen me, but I could not help but hide my absolute pleasure.

Big smiles!

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end, which is what promptly happened as soon as I passed into Ohio. (Sorry, Ohio. Nothing personal.) The rest of the trip was pretty much all business. I hit a few more rainstorms, and only a few small areas of construction. Over all it was about as smooth a trip as I have ever been on. The return trip took almost exactly 13 hours, with a total round-trip mileage of 1,166 miles. There were no problems, other than a few achy joints and some wet socks (I need to get waterproof boots).

I felt incredibly fortunate to have been able to take this trip. I have moved so many times in my life that it is difficult to really answer someone when they ask where I am from. Even though I spent only a few years in upstate New York, I cannot escape the influence that wonderful place had on me. In many ways I think I compare everything in my life to those few memories I have. Now, having seen the place through mature eyes, I have confirmed that my fondness has not been held in error.

Some say that you can never really return home. I have to disagree. Even though I had only two days there, in some way it was as if I had never left.

A journey complete.

It was the ride of a lifetime.

Hi, everyone!

I have had several persistent emails coming my way over the past… many months, regarding the status of Giftedness Revealed, the podcast, the blog, the forums, etc. So, while the perfectionist in me would rather wait until everything is completely up to date and excellent, I will resist and just come out with this quick update to let everyone that has expressed an interest in this website know what is going on.

Where did the podcast/blog go?

Well, the easy answer is that it didn’t go anywhere… it just sat for several months. In June, 2011 I finished my Master’s Thesis and graduated! The semester leading up to that was so intense that not only did I not touch the podcast or blog, but I barely touched facebook or anything else other than to hug my wife and son once in a while! It was an intense journey, but was trumped only two weeks later with the arrival of my newborn baby girl! My family and I are very happy and doing well, and slowly but surely we are starting to get some sleep again. I am now back to work, and am taking a bit off from school before starting the next level of education, so I am looking forward to bringing things back up to speed shortly.

What is Giftedness Revealed really about anyway?

A while back I was talking with a good friend, and we got onto the topic of my website. As a very funny commedian, he commented that it seemed like a website like mine would only exist as a reason for nerds to get together and talk about how smart they are, or to whine and complain about how they are never appreciated. While it was clearly a joke, it got me thinking about things like online identity and purpose. What I realized was that I had never really expressed to others what GR was all about, and, as they say, in the absence of clear direction, everyone is lost. I definitely do not want this to be a site that just rants about the injustices of the world. There are plenty of other places you can go for that kind of stuff.

So, I thought I would just say in this quick post (which is starting to drag on already) what Giftedness Revealed is, and perhaps more importantly, what it is not. I think I will start with the “is not” portion first.

Giftedness Revealed is not a mutual admiration society where we sit around stroking our own egos, talking about those “poor folks” that only scored a 1900 on the SAT and couldn’t get into Vanderbilt. It is also not a place that gives license to bash people of other ability levels, or even talk about them, really. I also don’t get into the politics of gifted education all that much because there are PLENTY of other websites that do that just fine, and frankly I don’t want to contribute to that kind of rhetoric.

What we (I, this site, whatever) are is a place devoted to being real. That’s the easiest way I can put it. If you are a gifted adult then you are probably familiar with the struggles to be the real you in a world that often seems to discourage much of what drives you. I can’t change what the world does or doesn’t do, but I can provide a venue where you can come and connect with other people that may share some of your experiences and understand what it is like.

This site is about personal development. It is not about quick-fix methods to unlock your potential, or “five proven methods to be a more creative producer,” or any other gimmick like that. It is about helping guide you toward ways that you can be a better you. Why is this important? Well, if you are a gifted adult then you are probably familiar with the all-too-common feelings of “I should be doing more” or “there has to be more to life than this”, or perhaps the “I know I have something of value to offer, I just can’t figure out what it is or how to do it.” That is part of who you are; you are naturally geared toward moving forward. Some are perfectly happy with themselves the way they are and have no interest in any topics on “betterment”. Gifted adults, on the other hand, simply cannot ignore that pull toward self-improvement. Abraham Maslow called it Self-Actualization, Kazimierz Dabrowski called it Positive Disintegration, Carl Rogers called it Optimal Development. They are all essentially describing the same idea; one that cannot be escaped by the Gifted Adult. So, this site is primarily focussed on that.

I can pontificate all day long about what giftedness is, but what some of you have expressed, and what truly drove me to start this project four years ago, is that no one seems to be out there talking about how to manage that raw talent and ability into success. This site is about you becoming a fully-integrated gifted adult; overcoming biases, transcending stereotypes, eschewing traditional roles, and stepping out from behind those protective masks that we all put on from time to time. If you are interested in doing that, then Giftedness Revealed is a place for you.

What’s with all the swans?

It has also come to my attention that perhaps my choice of logo is not completely understood by all. The swan logo comes from Hans Christian Andersen’s story of The Ugly Duckling. If you have not read it, I highly recommend you do so. Pay close attention to your reaction as you read through to the end. If you connected with the story, tells us what you thought on the facebook page.

So, that’s my update. I look forward to hearing your comments and getting back in touch with everyone. Until then, take care.

-Eric.

p.s. As always, you can contact me if you have any questions, or like us on facebook and join in the conversation!