My whole life I was taught I was very, very stupid and I learned and memorized it . It was yelled at me until I cried. I apologized for it, but it was not forgiven.
My "caregiver" told me it was because of my stupidity that my mother gave me away to her, and she would too if I didn't try harder. If I ever were to repeat a schoolyear, she promised me, I would go into the orphanage. I was very bad in school and when I made my first friendships with 15, 16 I was the dumb one. It became part of my behavior, part of how I communicated myself to others. It became my role. I was good at it.
When I became a young adult I had learned I was not so stupid after all. Nobody won a puzzle against me, but well, any idiot can watch documentaries all day, right? Its what I was told and what I believed.
I knew I was different then many, but I was sure it was just me being an idiot again. Every moment of selfrespect crushed by another humiliation or another burned in memory.
A few months ago I found out I that I am supposedly very, very intelligent with a heap of learning disabilities and attention issues. I still haven't fully recovered from that enormous bombshell. Will I ever?
Tried to reach out in support a few times, but only got shot down hard. "Why does it matter?" "Its just a number." I couldn't communicate my sorrow, the feeling of loss and regret for the actions of others. Like my dead brother, something lost before I had a chance to get to know it.
Many memories have a new edge now. They seem crueler, somehow. Above all is the shame. Toxic shame that refuses to change. Its the one thing I cannot forgive myself. When my partner, or anyone really, somehow reminds me of being different, I can f*cking lose it. Talking to strangers has become even more difficult. From terrible to impossible. This is the first time I dare talk openly about it, and pressing "post reply" is a scary thought.
Hopefully soon, or soonish, therapy will start, and I am more afraid of this topic coming up then any other. I have tried to write a thread about it ten times now, and I never did. Posts were written, some very long, but I always crawled back into my bear cave. My darkest secret carefully hidden away, together with me.