What a wonderfully supportive upbringing you've had! That's amazing and I'm glad for the kid you were. More kids should get that, as they grow up.
I've actually talked about a lot of the stuff you've brought up here in slightly different ways, but one thing I think has huge impact on all this is that there are SO. *MANY.* **MORE.** humans than there used to be. We used to be teeny tiny family clans scrapping for survival, that became bigger family clans that became tribes, that became kingdoms, that became countries. Waaaay back in history, where you were born was going to be where you lived your whole life and then died. Fitting in with everyone was CRUCIAL, if you wanted to mate, have children, or participate in status-gated activities. Today, we have the luxury of going away from where we started, looking for a place where we fit, and we can keep journeying until we find it, or sometimes, make it. Making your own weird space for compatible weirdos to come hang out is even easier with the Internet, social media, communication technologies (I did it myself, making my own Discord).
You are quite right, I believe. Creators aren't satisfied with the norm; we have to scratch under the surface, we have a billion questions and a billion more after that first billion. We find answers and we want to share them. Art as expression and communication - that has always been my belief. We make stuff for the pure joy of it, but also to play with the questions we're wrangling with, to pose them in a different way, to invite others to ponder it too.
I am thankful that I don't have to be trapped in the hell of my childhood years as a sad, misunderstood freak outsider kid, and grateful all over again when my life fell apart with becoming disabled, but it meant being able to seek a new tribe in the wonderfully weird neurodivergent community (who exist online just about as much as me, as we find it hard to traverse the normie physical world).
Thank you for this, great thoughts from you, as usual. Thought provoking :)
Thank you for writing the truth. Although I’m slightly jealous because you’ve had a more supportive environment than I. Ever since I was in middle school, my IQ seemed to give teachers and family the liberty to blame my failings at being normal on laziness… not really understanding I was wired differently…or even asking if something else was wrong. I’ve lost too much and sometimes wonder if my freak flag got buried in those losses.
However, hope always remains, as do the stories pounding inside my noggin to be freed. This article - well, it was cathartic and wonderful. Thanks again.
Stop being normal
What a wonderfully supportive upbringing you've had! That's amazing and I'm glad for the kid you were. More kids should get that, as they grow up.
I've actually talked about a lot of the stuff you've brought up here in slightly different ways, but one thing I think has huge impact on all this is that there are SO. *MANY.* **MORE.** humans than there used to be. We used to be teeny tiny family clans scrapping for survival, that became bigger family clans that became tribes, that became kingdoms, that became countries. Waaaay back in history, where you were born was going to be where you lived your whole life and then died. Fitting in with everyone was CRUCIAL, if you wanted to mate, have children, or participate in status-gated activities. Today, we have the luxury of going away from where we started, looking for a place where we fit, and we can keep journeying until we find it, or sometimes, make it. Making your own weird space for compatible weirdos to come hang out is even easier with the Internet, social media, communication technologies (I did it myself, making my own Discord).
You are quite right, I believe. Creators aren't satisfied with the norm; we have to scratch under the surface, we have a billion questions and a billion more after that first billion. We find answers and we want to share them. Art as expression and communication - that has always been my belief. We make stuff for the pure joy of it, but also to play with the questions we're wrangling with, to pose them in a different way, to invite others to ponder it too.
I am thankful that I don't have to be trapped in the hell of my childhood years as a sad, misunderstood freak outsider kid, and grateful all over again when my life fell apart with becoming disabled, but it meant being able to seek a new tribe in the wonderfully weird neurodivergent community (who exist online just about as much as me, as we find it hard to traverse the normie physical world).
Thank you for this, great thoughts from you, as usual. Thought provoking :)
Thank you for writing the truth. Although I’m slightly jealous because you’ve had a more supportive environment than I. Ever since I was in middle school, my IQ seemed to give teachers and family the liberty to blame my failings at being normal on laziness… not really understanding I was wired differently…or even asking if something else was wrong. I’ve lost too much and sometimes wonder if my freak flag got buried in those losses.
However, hope always remains, as do the stories pounding inside my noggin to be freed. This article - well, it was cathartic and wonderful. Thanks again.
Absolutely true. I just posted on this.
https://michaelmohr.substack.com/p/writers-versus-the-world