The Curse of Being a Know-It-All

I have a secret to share with y’all. Are you ready?
I am a know-it-all.

It may not be a surprise to those closest to me, but I am a know-it-all. I can’t even help it, it’s a natural thing. In class, even subjects that aren’t my specialty, I can’t help but know something about the lecture topic and voice that knowledge in class. It’s worse in my actual major courses. Think of Hermione in the early films, and you have me in class. Hand raised, tongue between teeth, and a mind full of knowledge that’s going to explode if I do share it.
But there’s a dark side to knowing everything and being good at everything.
You can never know everything and you definitely cannot be good at everything. There will always be more to learn and there will always be someone better than you at something. This sounds a bit pessimistic, right? But it isn’t, it’s just realistic. You don’t have to know everything or be good at everything to feel complete as a person.
The Curse of Being a Know-It-All Share on X
I sent an article to Laura a few nights ago, which is what inspired this post. She read it and replied back about how the article sounded exactly like her. The article also sounded like me. We are both the kind of people who thrive on knowledge, whether it’s applicable or just built up in our heads that we can toss out on a rainy day. I’ll admit I love the rush of being the first person to know something or to see it pop up in my newsfeed and share it. But that moment of empowerment quickly becomes a cycle of trying to be better than everyone else.
Don’t feel like you have to know everything about everything or be good at everything. My mom constantly says, “You can either be good at a few things or good at nothing.” It sounds blunt, but it’s very true. Now it’s your turn. Stop obsessing over the constant updates and news, stop pouring over tons of articles saved in the reading list. Instead take the time to learn more about one thing you love.
If we all work to become better at one or two things instead of everything I think we would all feel better and not worry about competing to know everything.
Are you ready to stop being a know-it-all?
This blog post was inspired by an article on Best Kept Self.