One. The other day, I told Christine my idea for yesterday’s post. She pointed out that people are attracted to each other’s weirdness, not their normalcy. Moth enthusiasts hang out together because of their love of lepidopterology, not because they like ice cream or Love Island.
I'll never forget a hair salon manager I worked with when I was 17. He was gifted with making his clients look amazing...even if they had twenty hairs on their heads.
He peered closely at me, and then said, "Your eyebrows! They grow across the middle! Grow them out!" He could find the one thing that was Different, and see it as positive and mostly Fun! And then he'd spread courage.
Thank you for this, and here's to the memory of Larry!
Your daughter is a very wise kid. In IL they are obsessed with being normal. My problem was I looked very “normal.” (At one point someone upon meeting me exclaimed “but you look so normal!” Because they were surprised I had married Ben who, as you know, does not look “normal”)
I so desperately wanted to fit in there that I spent the next three years trying to be “normal” and my mental health spiraled. Two years out and I still haven’t recovered my weird. I only recently realized the value of that and how that attracts real friends.
The real life performance of being someone you’re not really really messes you up. I’m so glad you’ve seen the value of your weird and that you are on the way to recovering it.
Christine has insight. I watch elephants, sloths, stars, and people due to the irregularities of my normal, not theirs. They’re just doing their thing but since it’s not my thing, it’s intriguing. Weird is fun to observe. Nature is master of Weird. Just look up ⬆️
I'll never forget a hair salon manager I worked with when I was 17. He was gifted with making his clients look amazing...even if they had twenty hairs on their heads.
He peered closely at me, and then said, "Your eyebrows! They grow across the middle! Grow them out!" He could find the one thing that was Different, and see it as positive and mostly Fun! And then he'd spread courage.
Thank you for this, and here's to the memory of Larry!
[Raises mug of tea] To Larry!
I love this - and needed to hear it! Thank you.
Your daughter is a very wise kid. In IL they are obsessed with being normal. My problem was I looked very “normal.” (At one point someone upon meeting me exclaimed “but you look so normal!” Because they were surprised I had married Ben who, as you know, does not look “normal”)
I so desperately wanted to fit in there that I spent the next three years trying to be “normal” and my mental health spiraled. Two years out and I still haven’t recovered my weird. I only recently realized the value of that and how that attracts real friends.
The real life performance of being someone you’re not really really messes you up. I’m so glad you’ve seen the value of your weird and that you are on the way to recovering it.
Christine has insight. I watch elephants, sloths, stars, and people due to the irregularities of my normal, not theirs. They’re just doing their thing but since it’s not my thing, it’s intriguing. Weird is fun to observe. Nature is master of Weird. Just look up ⬆️