I had a similar path, and recently realized that the brain can handle only so much intensity of learning (in a sustainable way). Min/maxing is common: folks go

I had a similar path, and recently realized that the brain can handle only so much intensity of learning (in a sustainable way). Min/maxing is common: folks go all-in on one area (business, finance, tech, arts, history, sports, work, startups, etc), and exceptional learning there happens at cost of learning in other areas. In your example, when you moved as a child, your brain had to intensely learn the entire new social world - the new language, cultural norms, media that everyone else grew up with, interpersonal comms, your place in the world etc, on top of normal learning in school. It's possible that your brain couldn't maintain the old intensity of learning math because even if you wanted - it was already overloaded. And if you did push it, the math could come at the expense of other learnings - social, emotional, cultural, computer skills etc. To me it sounds like you ended up with the best balance, and sacrificed the learnings (in math) that are least correlated with long-term success or happiness.