The current situation and forecast for MyGiftedLife.org is looking grim, and we will need to pull together to keep things running for the next year. This is a quick report to explain why we should strive to keep this site growing.

State of the Website Report

First, the financial report:

I realise that a few people have made orders through the Amazon shops linked to the site; however, the resulting commissions are below the minimum payment level, so we have received nothing. The GoogleAds are rarely showing up because of adblocking software in browsers, so the credit for ad impressions is also below the minimum payment level. Advertising has not been a working solution for us. Since we don't have a logo, mascot or T-shirt slogans ironed out yet, selling products has not yet become viable for us. We hope it will in the future, medium term. We also have ideas for longer-term projects, like producing useful gifted resources, but from the indications we're not sure about the participation levels. The one thing I've tried never to do is to ask money directly from the members. I've always handled it all myself, but that's no longer possible. We have always been free, and I will do my best to maintain it that way, but right now we need donations.

Dabrowski’s Theory and Existential Depression in Gifted Children and Adults

James T. Webb, Ph.D.¹²

 

It's very hard to keep your spirits up. You've got to keep selling yourself a bill of goods, and some people are better at lying to themselves than others. If you face reality too much, it kills you. ~ Woody Allen

When people undergo a great trauma or other unsettling event—they have lost a job or a loved one dies, for example—their understanding of themselves or of their place in the world often disintegrates, and they temporarily "fall apart," experiencing a type of depression referred to as existential depression. Their ordeal highlights for them the transient nature of life and the lack of control that we have over so many events, and it raises questions about the meaning of our lives and our behaviors. For other people, the experience of existential depression seemingly arises spontaneously; it stems from their own perception of life, their thoughts about the world and their place in it, as well as the meaning of their life. While not universal, the experience of existential depression can challenge an individual’s very survival and represents both a great challenge and at the same time an opportunity—an opportunity to seize control over one's life and turn the experience into a positive life lesson—an experience leading to personality growth.

It has been my experience that gifted and talented persons are more likely than those who are less gifted to experience spontaneous existential depression as an outgrowth of their mental and emotional abilities and interactions with others. People who are bright are usually more intense, sensitive, and idealistic, and they can see the inconsistencies and absurdities in the values and behaviors of others (Webb, Gore, Amend, & DeVries, 2007). This kind of sensitive awareness and idealism makes them more likely to ask themselves difficult questions about the nature and purpose of their lives and the lives of those around them. They become keenly aware of their smallness in the larger picture of existence, and they feel helpless to fix the many problems that trouble them. As a result, they become depressed.

Abstract