Losing my mind

My grandfather was a certified genius. I mean, his IQ (however unreliable a tool) was over 200 and he graduated high school at 14, setting a precedent for me to "skip a grade" in elementary school. My dad's a pretty smart cookie too. In school, he was in special classes later called "gifted" (but not back then) that did two year long projects. But we all three, some might say, never "fulfilled our potential." Well, my grandfather had a successful NY government career in vocational rehabilitation, but that's not exactly "rocket science," to use an old cliche. My dad miserably worked in sales most of his life, dreaming of the musician he should have been (well, he is a musician, but he never pursued a career doing it). That was after he married the beautiful but screwed up 17 year old that eventually became my beautiful but screwed up mother. Where was his genius then? Of course, genius is overrated when it comes to predicting life choices. But how is it that we all, rather than harnessing the brain power and, well, doing something that used those vast brain stores, floated into an abyss of averageness, at least when it came to careers (and other things too, but I won't go into that right now)? Anyone who knew me in college would agree that, though it was interesting and "practical," I chose the "easy" course of study, in which I "earned" my "cum laude" with, admittedly, very little personal effort. And now, much of my "problem" with work is that I simply don't need to think all that much. If I had been more willing to challenge myself then, by doing something that required me to work and think harder (say...engineering or chemistry, both of which I considered), would I be more fulfilled now? Not that there isn't still time for me, but even now I keep thinking about how difficult most of the options I think of would be. Isn't that what I keep whining about? I crave more challenges, but at the same time avoid them. Of course, my personality may have still led me to more people-oriented work, and inate intelligence doesn't really get you very far if you're paralyzed with indecision.