What I love about Danica is that instead of succumbing to the Hollywood life and becoming an ill-fated childhood actress, she went to UCLA and graduated Magna Cum Laude.
It got me thinking about society today and how there are many girls these days that "dumb themselves down" and are embarassed to be smart, for fear of being seen as nerdy, a know-it-all or even a goody-two-shoes.
I don't have a daughter, but I know if I did, I'd teach her that her brain is one of her best assets. Long after the looks are gone, you're going to have to have some substance. I've been guilty of "dumbing myself down" be it for a guy, or to not look like a brainiac in a group of girlfriends...for fear of coming off the wrong way. I look back and wish I hadn't. I'm sure there are many people I've met in my adult life that have no idea that:
1) I've won two spelling bees.
2) When the entire school was tested in their English skills in the 11th grade, I earned the overall highest score {and I was NOT Valedictorian or anything}.
3) Before entering the 7th grade, all the 6th graders in my district were tested and a small handful of around 15-20 students were put in Advanced Mathematics - I was one of those students. {Great way to meet hot Upperclassmen.}
4) In my 9th grade & 10th grade French classes, we would be tested each week and every Monday the teacher would put on the board everyone that received an "A" along with the percentage. My name was always there...at the top...with 100% next to it.
5) In 9th grade, a few of my popular-crowd friends borrowed my packet on our Romeo & Juliet study {this was a big 3-month study, so a third of our grade} and nearly that entire crowd passed that class because of that packet {you know who you are}.
6) In college, I helped a couple friends with their final class project because they honestly didn't know what they were doing. If I hadn't helped, they would have failed that course {I'm not proud of that, but neither of them are using their degree, so it's OK}.
7) My college GPA was 4.0.
8) I was put into Honors English in the 10th grade at the recommendation of my 9th grade English teacher.
9) Remember those State standardized tests we'd spend 1-3 days taking in school? {Don't forget your #2 pencils or you will DIE!} I never scored under the top 10% in the State and nation.
I do believe sometimes intelligence is just innate, but it's also a matter of applying yourself to a certain degree and actually giving a damn and trying. Even with all this evidence of high IQ, I'm not making 100s of thousands of dollars a year. I definitely had the potential, but I spent a lot of time dumbing myself down and fucking around. I thought I had nothing but time and I wanted to have fun in my young adult years. That is one of the regrets I have in life...not seeing myself to my full potential. I know my life isn't over or anything, but as a wife and a mother of two young boys, I have to do what's necessary to pay the bills. I'm not in a place where I can dedicate my time fully to some great entrepreneurial idea. Someday I hope to be able to...because my brain is always churning with ideas. I suppose I'm also not big in the corporate world because I truly can't stand to be bossed around {usually by someone much less intelligent than me}.
If I could go back to my college years, I would have applied myself, made a plan for myself and saw myself through to the potential I know I had. If I had a daughter I would tell her my story...and I would hope she would take the advice that it's more than OK to be smart. Anyone that has a problem with that, well, probably isn't smart. But you know what, this is great advice for my boys too.
On the upside, I am great for philosophical conversation and I can kick some ass in Scrabble, Scattergories, Sudoku - pretty much any game that requires a lot of thinking. My brain hasn't gone anywhere...it's still here.
Check out Danica's books here:
What about you? Have you realized your full potential? Do you ever make yourself seem not as truly smart as you are?
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