I know how you feel - I'm doing math and chemistry and biology classes now, and it's several years past the first BA degree. But this time... everything feels easier. I "get it" so much more now. It's weird. I think there's something about our mental processes that also mature, and our life experiences mold our perceptions. In HS and college, well... we had no real life experiences to use as a contrast or anything - it was just streaming information. Now things all have context.
So you were always smart, you are smart now, you just have a different application for your information now.
Oh, and ditto on the backup... just give yourself some variety of possibilities.
