Wow @Former-Member .... with all that education behind you, you are extremely skilled !!
All the particular skills that go with being a successful student are behind what you achieved, and that says an awful lot about who you are .... research skills, editing skills, amalgamation skills, presentation skills, training skills .... and that's just naming the immediately obvious ones ... crikey !!
As far as I am concerned, nobody is a "nobody" or a "nothing" .... can't even contemplate that for a minute ... the beauty and individuality of the human spirit is priceless .... the ultimate gift .... especially with even the vaguest understanding of how utterly amazing the body machine is .... the most incredible machine .... ever.
Rather than jettisoning people from your life, I would suggest using politeness as an emotional shield to gradually distance people from yourself who do not support your self-worth and display appreciation for your friendship ... and yes, people who say or repeat nasty things like this person you mentioned don't rate above "acquaintance" on the friendship scale !
Whether they want to stay on the outer borders of your life will depend on them in the longer therm really. They are in a sort of recycle bin there, where you can draw them closer if they develop a bit more emotional intelligence and become more caring, or you can delete them from your social circle if they end up disappointing you further. If you haven't practiced flexing these sort of thoughts on regard to your personal choices, take your time, but I hope you gradually find them empowering. You don't have to wear what other people hold out to you and tell you to put on ...
If you could see how untalented I am in the athletic department, perhaps you would start to understand that your physical abilities are talented and highly skilled endeavours. These are in the field of physical science, I am sure you are aware.
You may not be aware that there are strong links between science and art - and "the arts" are named that because they are an art form .... Art and Science both involve experimentation, noting results, risk-taking, finding correlation / relationships, understanding the characteristics of base products and how they behave in relation to other variables, etc. If you choose to develop a skill base in visual arts, you will find that you already possess a skill base, just not perhaps the one you were anticipating.
Maybe let the idea of the masters swimming rest with you for a little while, and see whether it starts to firm up as something you would really like to do ...
Take care .... you sound like an amazing person to know. Maybe in art classes you would find more kindred spirits.
🌷😊
