Embracing the weird

First post of 2020, I've drafted this post many times but it's never been published because I've found it really hard to talk about, but here we go....I'm embracing my weird. 

Last year, I spent some time with a therapist and she gave me some information that has been a huge realisation for me.  

The information in question was that I display a large number of characteristics that feature strongly on the autistic spectrum.  Her opening question after only two sessions was - "Have you ever considered that you might be autistic?" 

I was shocked, but on further investigation and discussion with her, it was concluded that, yes, I certainly do display strongly - I just hadn't realised and no one with that kind of knowledge had ever spoken to me to offer such a conclusion!  It's taken me quite some time to fully accept it, but the more I've learned the more I see exactly what the therapist identified.  

The thing I found most amusing about this has been that all my life I've been singled out as 'special','different' or just plain 'odd' and now after all this time I finally have a reason why - it's not that my brain is broken, it just doesn't work in exactly the same way as everyone else's.  I admit that I'd never agreed with any of the people who have ever classed me as 'special' or 'different', I'd always thought that everyone was - or could be - the same as me (in the same way someone doesn't know that they are colour-blind until something happens to point it out). 

This diagnoses has also made me understand something else too...People have often 'thanked' me for somehow showing them that it's OK to be a bit different.  Whether its been due to my flamboyant dress sense or my open refusal to live within some of societies boundaries (which I'm aware are kinda the same thing).  So....I've been happily unaware that I've been showing people that it's OK to be 'odd' all my life without even admitting that I'm odd in the first place!  

So what do I do now?  I don't feel that I'm a good advocate for others who are impacted in far more extreme ways than me so I'm never going to become some outspoken activist for the autistic community, but I can still do my part by just...being me - happily showing the world that 'odd' is perfectly OK and if they want to be a little odd too they should just cut loose! I may only have a positive impact on those who meet me but if a tiny ripple can cause a huge wave, maybe one day we can all embrace our weird and be a little happier with who we are. 

It's that time of year again!

I love October, the wheel turns as the leaves do, and the whole place is beautiful... and we have Halloween!

As a kid I loved the dressing up and as an adult ...I still love dressing up!  As a Pagan, it's an important time too, not only because I start to find really weird stuff online from people who have some strange ideas about the holiday... todays top find has to be this:

 

WOW...This is a new one to me..... Satans Birthday...I really can't explain how many holes there are in this idea.  Thankfully a young child has covered some of them for me...

A friend posted this on Facebook and received some every interesting discussion (possibly from the teacher mentioned above!) 😞

I would post extracts from the discussion here but as the commenter (as usual) ended up falling back on petty insults when they were obviously outdone, I won't give them the space.

I will provide one quick easy lesson in basic logic however:

Satan is a construct of Christianity.  Pagan is an umbrella term for pre-Christian religions.  Therefore, Pagans aren't Satanists. 

Simple huh?!

Barbie has a productive day

I have quite an odd job.  I do love it, but it can be a little strange sometimes. Other than the fun travel, I'm often stuck in an office looking after my staff, but even in the office I get to do some odd shit sometimes.  One of my priorities for today was this:

I made a postbox! 

Yup, I made a postbox...and I don't work with small children.  We have a staff away day tomorrow so it is part of a bigger plan.  I'm just proud of my postbox!  The ducks are just photo-bombing, they're not coming to the day.

If you're wondering what the boxes are, I've edited out the contact details so I don't get spammed at work ;)

Holiday watching

I'm on holiday.  Due to a poorly cat I can't go away at the moment so I'm spending a couple of weeks at home.  I've played a lot of computer games and watched dodgy daytime TV. 

I'm fussy about TV (although sometimes it might not seem that way!) I don't watch any soaps or stuff like that and I have a hatred for most reality TV.  I say most because there are a few shows that I enjoy - Masterchef and shows of that type of format can be quite entertaining.  Mostly because I like seeing disasters.

Like this one of obliterated sugar work just before judging...

Bake Off Professionals disaster

Because I don't want to watch This Morning or other daytime talk shows I'm often found browsing the documentary channels.  That basically means I have watched every episode of Ancient Aliens, every Stonehenge or Egyptology documentary and a decades worth of Time Team.  

Over the last couple of weeks I've spotted a 'new' show (new to me - there are several seasons!) called Forged in Fire.  It is that familiar Masterchef format but what amused me most was the sheer abundance of beards.  Honestly, have a look through, it seems to be part of the entry criteria (until you spot that there are a couple of ladies in some of the seasons so they must have loosened the rules for them)  I might watch some of it, I do like weapons and the stuff they make looks quite cool from the 5 minutes I've watched so far.  I will also be giving the contestants additional points for beard/facial hair and styling though....Lets see if the same ones win ;)

Negative...positive...negative?

I stumbled across this article online tonight.  Its titled: 10 jobs you can get with just your GCSEs.  I read it out of interest as I am one of the (seemingly unusual) people who has a brain but no degree - you may remember me talking about this is a previous post - I was hoping that someone was trying to show some positive news for those of us without this magic piece of paper...but alas, wrong again...the article basically reinforces the idea that in order to get a decent job you need a degree.  The jobs they list are:

Accounts Clerks
Receptionist
Medical Secretary
Customer Service Assistant
Waiting Staff
Engineering Maintenance Fitter
Fitness Instructor
Sales Representative
Care Assistants

Whilst this may dispel any concept that you must have a degree to even be considered for any job, these probably aren't the best selection to make someone really confident...they are only a step away from listing Binman and Street Sweeper (both of which probably pay equal or more than those they have listed!)


Yet again, MSN article authors must try harder!