Dimming Your Light So Other People Can Shine

 If you regularly have to play stupid or dumb so that others can feel better about themselves you're not helping those people to grow and you're doing a disservice to yourself. Don't get lost in trying to change who you are for the other person (or trying to change the other person to accept who you are).You can't really blame the people who are mad at you or feel threatened by you because it's simply a reflection of their insecurities or their small-mindedness. Sometimes playing dumb is a strategy for people so that people underestimate you and it can work out in your favor but I'm talking about if you have to act this way all the time. I even think it's ungrateful behavior to do this sometimes because you're not displaying gratitude for the gifts and talents that you have. Sometimes you have to find a different environment where people can accept your brilliance or where you can really be challenged and shine.The same goes for a boy, either find someone who is not threatened by your intelligence and will support you or find someone who will challenge you on your level.

Also, we've all been on the opposite side of this where we feel threatened or intimidated by someone else and it makes us feel insecure. It's important to recognize how you feel but rather than being mad at that person for knowing something you don't or having something you can't have, take it as an opportunity to learn from them.

There's a fabulous part in her book, A Return to Love, page 190 by Marianne Williamson:
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.