I am dumb. Extremely dumb. My parents are dumb too and horrible academically so naturally I am extremely dumb. But my parent have this insane delusion that I am really smart (I’m not). I fully admit I am dumb and while it is hard to be dumb I’m not ashamed to say this anymore and I refuse to let anyone convince me otherwise.
My entire high school, they kept telling me I was so smart despite there was so much evidence to the contrary. I hated school. The classes that everyone said were easy As gave me nightmares and I stayed up late doing work for them. I studied hard but I couldn’t grasp the concepts because I am mentally challenged. No amount of studying will make general chemistry or the most basic biology or 10th grade maths possible for me, let alone AP classes. I was failing multiple classes.
The entire time, my parents kept saying I was so smart and blamed me for just not trying harder (I was trying extremely hard with tutors and studying but I was exhausted). Whether I tried a lot or didn’t, the result was the same. I got horrible grades. They thought I was lazy and just didn’t apply myself which caused a lot of arguments. But I did try but it doesn’t mattter, because at the end of the day, studying won’t make me do much better. I tried literally everything. My teachers lied straight to my face, telling me that I am smart. And I believed those lies, so I tried to challenge myself in difficult classes. Well, that was a fucking fail.
I felt a lot of pressure to be smart because it’s seen as a desirable thing and well, people kept lying to my face saying I am smart so I felt that I needed to prove it. Those people lied straight to my face and I resent them for making me think I am smart.
After having awful grades for 3 years straight, a friend told me the truth: that I am mentally challenged and I need to be strategic. I saw the light. I am dumb, and very much so. So I started taking some super easy classes. I chose classes based on the teachers, the ones that give out As to everyone. I had an excellent academic performance in my senior year, not because I am smart, but because I just chose the right teachers who threw me a bone. I didn’t try harder or change how I studied. In fact, choosing these teachers was even less work and made my life so much easier. I didn’t do the readings or the homework but still got As. In college, I used ratemyprofessor to see which professors gave out free As. I had excellent grades because I chose an easy major and literally all of my profs were the nice ones who gave out free As.
To the outside eye, it looks like I started applying myself and taking advantage of my intelligence. The truth is, I have very little intelligence. I thank my friend so much for making me realize how utterly mentally challenged I am and it has made my life so much easier. When I was under the impression that I am smart, I was constantly failing and wondering why and trying harder and having meltdowns. Until I realized that I am truly dumb, and that doing well in those harder classes isn’t possible for someone like me. The only As I could get are the ones that are handed to me.
And no, this isn’t imposter syndrome. I’m telling you exactly how I got my As: they were free. I didn’t work for them. I’m not some secretly smart person feeling dumb. It’s easy to diagnose me with imposter syndrome because of my good grades now, but the truth is that all those As did not require any intelligence or effort.
In the end, I’ve realized that I am truly and utterly dumb, and this has epiphany has changed my life for the better. I will never let anybody convince me that I am smart again, because that mistake has given me endless meltdowns and sent me into so many spirals. It makes me beyond furious when people try to tell me I am smart even when I keep giving them reasons why I am not. When I am practically begging them to listen to me but they keep refusing my evidence that I’ve lived and collected firsthand and still for some insane reason insisting that “you are so smart!!!!! You just don’t see it!!” it makes me beyond furious to hear people try to lie like that.