BEING DIFFERENT
Intensity is a brain difference— an innate trait that makes one different from the normative way of functioning.
While the mass media and medical professionals are eager to use labels to diagnose people with a way of being that is different from the norm, findings in neuroscience are going in the opposite direction.
More and more, the scientific community acknowledges ‘neurodiversity’— the biological reality that we are all wired differently. Rather than being an inconvenience to be eliminated, neurodiversity is an evolutionary advantage, something that is essential if we were to flourish as a species.
Like many brain differences, it is misunderstood.
As people naturally reject what they do not understand, the emotionally sensitive ones are being pushed to the margin.
Those who feel more, and seem to have a mind that operates outside of society’s norm are often outcasted.
Being sensitive and intense is not an illness- in fact, it often points to intelligence, talents or creativity.
After years of being misdiagnosed by health professionals, criticised by schools or workplace authority, and misunderstood by even those who are close to them, many sensitive people start to believe there is something wrong with them. Ironically, low self-esteem and loneliness make them more susceptible to having an actual mental disorder.
Reclaiming your identity means you no longer allow the ‘sick role’ to define you.
It means standing up for yourself- that includes your unique qualities, strengths and weaknesses.
The blueprint of your life is unique to you, and you can learn to stand by our own life choices.
Every day, we hear many noises that say we have done the ‘wrong thing’, that we ought not to have chosen what we have chosen, that we have made a mistake. The loudest noise amongst is our own- The sound of our harsh inner critic.
Maturing means standing by our decisions, to expend less and less energy in bringing ourselves down.
Stand by you.
Be you.
Drown out the world's comments and opinions.
Be your own best champion, and shine as you, not someone else.
Only you could do it.
And that there is a place in you where you have never been wounded, where there’s still a sureness in you, where there’s a seamlessness in you, and where there is a confidence and tranquility in you.
— John O’Donohue, interviewed by Krista Tippett
THIS WEEK’S EXPERIMENT: SELF PORTRAITS
Look through a collection of your pictures,
Pick five to ten images that you feel best describe who you are to a stranger.
Now, reflect on the following:
Is there a theme to your chosen images?
What seems obvious at first glance, and what might be hidden behind the scene?
Do you like some pictures more than others? What makes the differences?
Are you surprised at something that appears or seems to be missing from these photos?
Would you wish them to be any different?
Who were they taken by? What might be the photographer’s feelings towards you?