The Hidden Pitfalls of Exceptionality

The problem with making an edge case of yourself (in any respect) is that it becomes painfully obvious when people lapse into framing specific "You" as a generalized "Them." People very often are not interacting with a specific you. You dissolve for them into a category. This is perfectly normal, and usually unnoticed by either party. It happens most commonly out of laziness. It takes special consideration and extra concentration for someone to lock onto you as a unique entity rather than a generic one-of-them. So you often become the category. Humanity-in-general, or else whichever personality type you're seen as representing. If you wear fuzzy sweaters and smoke lots of pot and repeat "It's all good!" a lot, this makes you easily categorizable, and you'll often be spoken to as That Guy; a cartoonish blur rather than the specific person you are. The second cause is narcissism. If people exist to serve one's needs — populating dramatic arc requirements and filling in needed chunks —…