nah i just be chillin

Daamn, straight on, true. It would be difficult for coach to say this, but it is what a responsible and “adult” coach should do. One can always enjoy the sport as a hobby, but it’s not as much fun to puch it as competitive profession.

Hopped to programming, but do not care that at all. Programming can be fun and creative in own hobby projects, but corporate codebases are often awful messes. Because mine is super dull, I’m working only half time, which is enough to cover living expences. Using the free time for what actually feels meaningfull, like organizing pony conventions, parties, and meetups.

Never had this happen to me, wonder what that makes me

@modus_ponens
My experience was similar to yours, although I stayed in my field, since it makes for nice money and comfortable life. The reason for my “downfall” was different, though. Elementary and high school was so easy for me I mostly blazed through them without need to seriously study. Plus, I never cared much for grades, since I usually ended up near top of my class, anyway. University was much harder, but I still spent most of it partying and playing PC games, up to 12 hours a day. As a consequence, I never learned how hard the underlying science really is and what it takes to come up with something novel. And then it was too late.

True, you’re unlikely to accomplish much if your childhood is shitty. Unfortunately, it’s mostly about luck meeting the right people as a kid. That includes your parents, since usually they’re not “qualified” to discern whether you have a real talent or not. Of course, everybody loves your stereotypical “a coach/mentor/zen master/whatever meets a kid from disadvantaged background, recognizes their talent and turns them into champion/Fields medailst/whatever” story. But in the real world, the opposite is equally important: that the coach can explain the kid (and their parents) they’re simply not good enough. To make the matter worse, it depends on the coach too - in the Western sphere in particular, coaching is mostly a commercial activity, so they have incentive to tell everybody they’re the next Diego Maradona, Bruce Willis or Terence Tao. And of course, then there is pure hell like South Korea or China with their countrywide Suneung and Gaokao scholastic ability tests.

You know, I’ve always wondered about that. What theoretical physics “dropouts” do for a living? It’s easy for sports or arts dropouts - waiters, exotic dancers, bouncers, drivers, warehouse workers, etc. But if you “drop out” from such bleeding edge field, what kind of everyday job can keep you interested enough for long enough?

@Conscious Donkey
Ouch! Spot on!
It’s not healthy to grow with too much belief in oneself, as that will likely shatter in early adulthood. It will cause mental turmoil, which is hopefully over in few years, when one “frees” oneself from the need of achieving anything.

Though, on the other hand, I understand why parents are optimistic to children. You never achieve anything if you are never given change of being aspired. I’m willing to argue that determination is more important than talent. But too much determination will lead to burn out.

Because many of us have probably their own experiences on this, I still gotta share a my story here.
When I was young, I wanted to be a physicist. My parents said “That stuff is difficult, and may not be right place for you. Be willing to give up”. As stubborn as I was, I hung to the dream. Got into uni, and relentlessly studied for 4 years without other life. Then I got into a research group of the most fascinating field I had as a teen: computational quantum mechanics. The insanity of no-life dedication continued. It took 3 more years in that research group for the fact to sink in that I’m actually pretty mediocre in terms of skills, but managed to get so far by just being extremely stubborn. Anyways, burnt out, and hopped out from academia, and dedicated my life to cartoon ponies instead. Have not regretted a single bit. Got into social circles of pony community, and can say that having friends is way more important than knowing some obscure theories about nothing. But anyways, here is what I have learnt:

Everyone has something they’re good at, though.

Ahh, good times.

This pic/meme is relevant only if you actually had the potential as a kid. The sad truth is, most people don’t, even if parents etc. fed them the obligatory bullshit how special they were. Because of that, the eventual clash with reality is worse than it needed to be.

This is me. With the exception that these thoughts are with me at all times, I don’t have to wait until 3 in the morning.

why wait for 3am