Tuesday, June 27, 2023
Good morning beloved reader!
When I was in my 20s, 30s, and early 40s and working in the publishing industry in New York City, I think I used to try to pass as “normal.”
But I gained the insight that “normal” is just a number, and after giving up corporate work, I stopped trying to be someone other than who I am.
These days, perhaps people I meet in person may think I’m a weirdo. And from their perspective, maybe I am.
I’ve definitely lived an unusual life: from growing up with a radical Australian mother who partially home-schooled the four of us Sanderson sisters and used schools as a resource, who did not buy into any of the societal customs or beliefs within the patriarchal systems in education, religion, or allopathic medicine; in addition to a non-conformist upper-class English father who built us a home only accessible by water in Pittwater, NSW, Australia, where our youngest sister was born at home and where we experienced growing up in an idyllic setting which I later learned was inspired by his reading a book by the English author Aurthur Ransome: Swallows and Amazons.
But the truth of my own experience is that when I lived in Tokyo for a year in 1987 at the age of 20: in the Japanese culture, whatever I thought was weird they thought was normal. And much of what I thought was normal in our Western English-speaking culture, they thought was weird.
Perhaps weirdness is a perspective — what is weird to whom? And if there is love and acceptance, who gives a crap about weird anyway?
It’s taken me until I’m in my 50s before I’ve been able to embrace what has been unusual about both my upbringing and my character—regarding character, I definitely fall into the category of a Highly Sensitive Person:
A highly sensitive person (HSP) is a neurodivergent individual who is thought to have an increased or deeper central nervous system sensitivity to physical, emotional, or social stimuli.
Some refer to this as having sensory processing sensitivity, or SPS for short.
While highly sensitive people are sometimes negatively described as being “too sensitive," it is a personality trait that brings both strengths and challenges.
Once I understood that heightened sensitivity is part of my character — i.e. not everyone is like this — I learned that regardless of what other people’s expectations of me may be, sometimes I just need to take some quiet time.
I learned that I have to honor my need for quiet time, even if it means I may miss out on a fun experience.
Everyone talks about FOMO — the fear of missing out — but there is also such a thing as JOMO: the joy of missing out. JOMO for me means that I’m taking some quiet time to rest and recharge. And this is of course different from extroverts who recharge by socializing with others.
Perhaps also this era of the Rising of the Divine Feminine is about being comfortable with our own weirdness, and not continually projecting the assessment of “weird” onto other people.
Do we just call someone else weird to make ourselves feel more “normal”?
We’re all weird and quirky in our own way, and by owning this, we empower ourselves, claim our sovereignty, and claim our own unique voice in the world.
There is an indigenous cultural teaching:
We’re all born with an “original medicine,”
and if we do not express it in the world,
it will be lost and gone forever.
May you cultivate the courage to share your own original medicine during this era of the Rising of the Divine Feminine✨🌟💖🙏🕊️
And after learning to embrace what makes me different or weird, my intention is also to continue holding my ego like a beloved pet and laugh at it when it wants to run the show, which it often does!
Also as I learned from Rev. Dr. Stephanie Rutt: when the ego cries, the soul rejoices, which I wrote about in an elephant journal article here.
Welcome back to the Substack of the Rising of the Divine Feminine after I’ve been away on vacation with my partner. It feels good to be back💃🧚♀️🤸♀️🌼🌷🌈🌺🪷💕☀️😎 💃🕺✨🌟💖🙏🕊️
I have always thought of myself as a ‘weirdo’ and for a long time I struggled with that and tried to ‘fit-in’ but in the last few years I’ve finally started to just be who I am. And the more I do it, the more I realise - as you made clear in this piece - we’re all weird in our own unique way and that’s one of the things that makes us special.
Great piece.
Boundaries set, good intentions and kindness my sword. I adore your writing!!!!