🐩 TREE 411: Leverage your weirdness
One.
“I could never do [weird/brave thing]. I’m too normal and boring.”
No matter how normal1 you think you are, you are weird about something. Everyone is.
I suggest you embrace your weirdness. It’s part of what makes you interesting. Once you’ve embraced it, leverage it. Use your existing weirdness as a stepping stone to other types of brave oddity.
Instead of “I could never…”, you can say, “I’m already [your existing weirdness], so I might as well [weird/brave thing]”.
An example: I became a vegetarian in 2006. It was weird, but not that weird. In 2018 I decided I wanted to reduce my participation in violence toward animals even more by becoming a vegan. Being vegan is fairly odd, but it wasn’t that big a deal because I was already a vegetarian. Now, for the sake of health and longevity, I’m looking at how to eliminate that vast majority of ultra-processed food (UPF 1,2) from my diet. 60% of all calories consumed in the UK come from UPF. If I do this, I will truly be a freak on the fringe. But it doesn’t feel that hard to me because I’ve already embraced dietary weirdness twice before.
Embrace your existing weirdness. Use it to give you the courage to do that brave/weird thing you’ve been wishing you could do.
Two.
Jean is not certain about her new pet.
Three.
Della XOZ is 17, from Manchester and she made this song on her phone. Do your thing. Don’t wait for permission or equipment. Start where you are.
Welcome to weird week.
Jeff
What even is normal?
Since I was a child, my brother said I was sooo weird. I thought I was normal. Now I am content with the weird, unusual ways of me. Like this morning, I am in a juniper forest 🌳 with no one I can see camping near me. I like it this way. I was putting on my eyeliner when my hand pulled an Egyptian swoosh out I hadn’t planned. So I went with it. Egyptian eyes in a nomadic morn. Yah, I can 👀that isn’t normal. Who cares?
Dude. Every week is weird week.