When You Don’t Fit In

For most of my life, I didn’t feel like I fit in.

To start, I didn’t look like anyone else.   As a Eurasian in the 70’s, I was a pretty rare breed.   I don’t remember meeting anyone else who was Eurasian in the US until I got into high school!

I also wasn’t good at making friends, and then we moved to Hong Kong, and my parents put my sister and I in a Chinese speaking school.   We only spoke English at the time.

These early life experiences set me up to feel like an outsider for the rest of my life.

For most of my life, I felt rejected, unloved, and unacceptable.

I still don’t fit in, but my attitude towards not fitting in has shifted 180 degrees.   I now love myself and celebrate my uniqueness, knowing that my not-fitting-in-ness is what puts me in a unique position to help others.   It makes me special, and I’m proud of it!

How did that transformation happen?

I told my story at Fresh Ground Stories in Seattle.  The theme was Fish Out of Water:  Stories of Not Fitting In.   Here is the recording:

Do you know anyone else that feels alone, and struggles to fit in?   Please share this with them!

 

Image Outcast courtesy of Derek Morrison at flickr.