Ignorance is Bliss

I have a lot of things on my mind right now, and most of my potential blog subjects probably require several nights' sleep before I realize it's not a good idea. This is probably the first post I'm a little hesitant about writing. It may seem a bit arrogant, but I think in the end it'll sort itself out. Besides, based on my page views, not many read this anyway ;-)

One thing people eventually tell me is that I'm pretty smart (oh, and humble). I'm not sure I like the word "smart". Anyone can be smart at certain times, and lord knows I've done my share of bonehead things. We'll go with intelligent. I am very intelligent. And it's not always a good thing.

Intelligence is how quickly you can come to a solution to a problem. The more intelligent you are, not only allows you figure out things more quickly, but also do it with less pieces. I view intelligence much the same way I view talent (and could argue talent is nothing more than focused intelligence). It's a natural ability you're born with, and you're stuck with whatever you've been blessed with. It's not a skill; not something you can increase with practice. Does this mean someone born with average intelligence can't be a rocket scientist? Certainly not. But they have to work harder. Average intelligence starts at level 1; high intelligence begins at level 7. Both can reach level 10,  but one has a significant head start.

Anyway, the intention of this post isn't a pissing contest about being more or less intelligent than anyone else, it's about the good and bad that comes from being intelligent. Okay, this is about my viewpoint anyway. I have no idea if other intelligent people have the same issues (though I suspect they do). Even though others may view intelligence as always a good thing, too much of a "good thing" usually isn't. Ask any rich person, beautiful person, successful person. As the song goes, "Mo Money, Mo Problems".

Intelligence allows me to read people extremely well. While this useful in poker (and I am a very good poker player), it's not always the greatest thing in my relationships with other people. When I'm talking to someone, I can immediately tell if they are interested in either myself or the conversation. This is great because I can quickly shift gears and get more in depth if you're interested, and I'm usually pretty courteous and stop talking if your eyes glaze over, but not so great because I may omit information if I think you're not interested. It's also a great bullshit detector (and subsequently, makes me good bullshitter. Useful for a military career which is highly dependent on bullshit). I can sniff out lies pretty easily. Yes, I can be fooled, but it either takes a really really good bullshit artist, or I trust that person explicitly (so if you successfully mess with me, you're probably one of my best friends).

Like I said, I fill in the gaps rather quickly. I notice things. ("You've been checking out the waiter since the beginning of our date") This unfortunately leads me to coming to conclusions and over-analyzing things. Now to my credit, most of the conclusions I come to are accurate, but when I'm wrong… ugh ("Yes, I have been, but that's because I think you're cute and I'm nervous I'm staring too much"). I want to get to conclusions quickly and without all the information, I'll come to my own. Combine that with my creative imagination and that can cause trouble. This is probably why I'm attracted to open-book personalities. The more honest a person, the less gaps I have to fill in. 

Intelligence can also keep me up late at night, thinking about things. Sometimes it's worrying about trivial things, but mostly it's just things that pop into my head right before I doze off. Many "what ifs" and "what can I do about thats". I can also wind up being "paralyzed by choice" and hesitate on decisions because I'm trying to figure out which one is the best. Fortunately, I've recently taken the go-with-my-gut approach, and it's made me take a lot of chances I wouldn't normally have done (That actually might make a good future blog).

I've found ignorance to be an effective equalizer to intelligence (see what I did there? Not just a clever title this time).

Even though I already know something, or have figured it out, I'll tend to try to ignore it and just go with the flow anyway. This helps when I do jump to conclusions. Again, I'm usually right, but delaying any action can help when I'm wrong. It also helps with depression. Being able to figure things out quickly means I can see where things are headed, and it's not always a good thing. But the cool thing about life is that nothing is certain, and humans are anything but predictable. Remaining ignorant can allow these unexpected miracles to develop instead of me calling things off too early. It also allows me to enjoy the ride, even when I know it's going to end in disaster.

Now, if you haven't noticed, my posts normally end with a silver lining, and this one's no different. Despite what i've written, the positives far outweigh the negatives. For one, I'm definitely the guy you want on your Scatergories team, haha. One of my favorite positives is the ability to listen to people, quickly understand them and even offer advice. I love being able to help people solve their problems, or at the very least give them some options on which direction to go. It's also useful for making things happen. I'm not always the person that comes up with the idea, but I can figure out a way to make it work. Sometimes I wish I wasn't so intelligent, but I'm smart enough to know better ;-)

(The above picture has nothing to do with this post, but it cracked me up when I was looking for blog pics)