33: the underachiever, part 2

Some people seem to be at a loss as to why such a high percentage of intelligent people end up working boring jobs and living mostly uneventful, anonymous lives. There are three theories I usually hear when this topic arises:

1. Intelligence comes in various types, and it may be that some of those who have an inordinate amount of one kind of intelligence can never fully put it to use because they lack another kind of intelligence.

2. Someone who is always told that he or she has great potential may start feeling a great degree of pressure, and may end up bottoming out and sabotaging the whole idea of achievement in order to be able to "breathe".

3. The joke is on everyone else. The real surprise is not that you have geniuses who work as bus drivers or school janitors, but that you also have perfectly intelligent people who opt for high-stress, high-responsibility careers and consider this more desireable.

Perhaps the primary thing that a pilgrimage does is to force you to face the questions you can keep brushing aside in everyday living, and the question of underachievement is one I've been brushing aside for years. I'm not a dramatic underachiever -- I'm certainly not a genius -- but there is no denying that I could be doing "better" than cleaning hotel rooms. But the fact is, I'm really not sure that I want to. I'm not convinced that doing something "better" would really be better. I hate having to explain it. And I hate thinking about it, because it gets me lost in the hopeless maze of trying to answer the question "so what do you really want from life, then?"

Nevertheless, this annoying question was on my list of questions to ponder while I walked.