You know, when I first met you I thought you were so weird…

 

I can’t count the amount of times this has been said to me. More than I care to admit, but here I am, admitting it anyway. Zac said this to me while we were dating.*

What I will admit, however, that the first few times people said this, it sent me spiraling damage control. Uh oh, what did I do now?

As a result of these well-intentioned comments (well, now that I know you better, you’re not so weird!) I limited myself and how I interacted with people for a long time. I constantly worried about how I was being perceived, about being misinterpreted. Better to say less, show less, than risk being pushed out because of my weirdness.

Over time, I’ve grown to realize something that made me put an end to all that self-limiting: the qualities that I was worried would push me out, were the exact same qualities that were giving me an edge.

 

“I swear, you are so random” gets celebrated as ideation.

 

“You don’t understand the ‘way things are'” gets celebrated as creative thinking.

 

“You just don’t let up” gets celebrated as being persistent or strategic or able to doggedly solve problems.

 

Given the right experience, given the right training, given the right timing, given the right situation, what makes you odd can also be what makes you oddly brilliant.

 

 
Sometimes what you feel most awkward about, is the same thing that sets you head and shoulders above the status quo.

 

Sometimes the skills that cause the most pain when you’re learning to wield them become your weapon of choice.

 

Sometimes people let slip they thought you were weird when they first met you. And in the exact moment where the old you wanted a Sinkhole Event to happen, you now raise your chin, smile cheekily and say graciously, “you wouldn’t be the first to say that.”

 

You then ask them, “How exactly was I weird?” Because holy smokes, you’re about to discover another thing that could set you apart from the rest and you. can’t. wait.

 

 

*Joke’s on him though, because he ended up marrying the weird human. So who’s weirder now, huh?