When I didn’t know I was NeuroDivergent, I used to hate myself.
When I thought I was NeuroTypical, I used to hate myself.
When I didn’t know I was NeuroDivergent, I used to feel like a failed NeuroTypical Person (because the expectations for me to be a “good” NeuroTypical seemed impossibly out of reach).
“Why can’t I just _______ ?” – Do something NeuroTypicals find simple.
“Why do they hate me? Why do they think I’m weird?”
“If I could only ______.” – Insert some activity that NeuroTypicals don’t struggle with.
“What’s WRONG with me? Why am I such a failure?”
They were fish, berating me for being unable to swim or breathe underwater.
I would look around at all the “other” fish, comparing myself to them, and felt like I was a “broken fish” – because I couldn’t do as the other fish did.
I didn’t know I was a bird in a world of fish, born to fly and breathe air – not swim.
Not knowing almost killed me. I was drowning in waters that weren’t meant for me.
Wing heavy and tired from swimming, the weight of the water pulling me down.
I am a creature of the sky, but thinking I was a fish meant holding myself to (unrealistic) fishy standards – gulping in water instead of air.
Learning the truth about my mind was a turning point in my life.
The truth freed me, gave me perspective, and taught me to love myself again.
The truth freed me from the world of fish, helping me to see I’d been a bird all along.
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