fredmouse linked to: Pathologizing Normal Gifted Behavior
For example, it is quite normal for little boys to get restless and fidget when asked to sit still in a classroom. Today, any little boy who fidgets in class is now immediately suspected as having ADHD. While some children do have ADHD, not every child who fidgets or doesn't sit still has it.
I mostly found this fascinating because it's simultaneously a real problem that we remember pushing back on and yet I really wonder how differently my life might have gone had been introduced to coping skills for ADHD before I spent seven years flailing around college like a disaster multipotentialite. (It's like a disaster bisexual, but there's less kissing and more abandoned creative projects.)
And speaking of advice for disaster multipotentialites:
Why “follow your passion” is bad advice
It might be slightly less inspirational shouted from the rooftops — “Do whatever. If you work hard, you will like it eventually!” — but the growth theory is great news for those of us who fail something the first time. Rather than waiting around for passion to show up, we can take matters into our own hands and make our own passion.
It's Okay to Be Good and Not Great
We’re told that striving to be great and never being satisfied are necessary to meet the ever increasing pressures and pace of today’s world. It’s the only route to success. But what is it all for? What does success even mean? Rates of clinical anxiety and depression are higher than ever. Some experts believe that loneliness and social isolation have reached epidemic proportions. Two-thirds of all employees report feeling burned out at work. Surely this isn’t the kind of success that everyone is after.