My entire life I’ve been praised for one thing over and over: being smart.

Just to be clear, I’m not complaining about this. I’m humbled that people perceive me as being intelligent. I am incredibly grateful that I have been blessed with the ability to understand and grasp complex concepts, but honestly, I’m tired of just being known as the smart girl. What does it actually mean to be smart? Does it mean I’m good at memorizing a lot of random facts about a variety of topics? Does it mean that all I care about is how I do on my next physics exam or how mature my voice sounds when I write papers?

It actually makes me very uncomfortable when people tell me that I’m “so smart” or that I’m “a genius!” How do you want me to respond to that? If I thank you for your compliment I’m seen as an arrogant jerk. If I say, “Oh, no, I’m not really that smart” I’m seen as a humble bragging jerk. If I say nothing, I’m immediately labelled as a jerk with a superiority complex. There really is no way to win in this situation.

That’s part of the reason I’m tired of just being known as the smart girl. The other part is that once everyone finds out that I enjoy thinking about and solving problems they never take the time to learn anything else about me. I mean, how could a smart kid possibly have any other hobbies or interests other than school or their main topic of interest? I’m not just smart. Yeah, I spend a lot of time looking up “useless” in-depth information on a variety of topics that most people don’t actually care about, but that is only a sliver of a fraction of who I actually am as a person.

So if I’m not just a nerd who reads extra chapters in their textbook for fun, who am I?

I am funny (just ask me). I am adventurous. I am caring. I am sarcastic. I am brave. I am loyal. I am honest. I am a runner. I am a coffee connoisseur. I am an outdoor enthusiast. I am a thrill seeker. I am a dog person. I am a lover of the mountains. I am a traveler. I am creative. I am into motorcycles. I am an aspiring scientist. I am thoughtful.

To me, being smart means you have the ability to take what you’ve learned and apply it to a variety of situations. It means you’re curious about your surroundings and you go out of your way to satisfy your curiosity. It means caring about ideas that are bigger than yourself and investing your time and talents into a purpose bigger than yourself. It takes dedication to continue to pursue and learn about the ideas and topics that interest you.

It’s so easy to notice only one or two traits in people and not take the time to get to know the rest of them. You can never *really* know a person completely, but you never know what hidden talents and passions you’ll uncover if you don’t take the time to get to know them.

Overall I am pretty ordinary; but I’m not just smart.