Nourished socially

This is the sense of fulfillment I experienced in Egypt: a deserved ago-filling that seemed to match my actual abilities. An experience that had been lacking before.

Many youngsters who are gifted and talented appear driven, almost obsessed in their areas of genius. This explains some of the solitary pursuit. At the same time, there are feelings of ambivalence and inadequacy that emerge, since fully half of our self acceptance is driven by our value in others’ eyes. Human beings acquire ego development through interaction with others (Erikson, 1968). Thus, children who are “driven” to play music while peers are playing tag, lose out on valuable social nourishment and development of ego strength.

http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jde7/ese504/class/adolescence/Onlinereading7.html