DogwoodTree
Still here...
I'm starting to think...that a lot of my feelings that I "don't fit in" have more to do with the stereotypes I have in my own head of what people should act like, rather than the reality of what real people actually want or need from me.
For example...I feel like I should be able to meet the expectations of the extreme super woman. Successful in everything I do, clean house all the time, great kids, great job, all the volunteer work...and when I don't come close to measuring up to that obviously impossible standard, I feel like I've failed to be as good as what most women are able to do.
But they're not doing all of that, either.
Sure, there are a lot of people caught in the same trap, thinking they need to live up to a stereotype, and maybe those are the only people I've taken my cues from so far. But the more I accept myself as a REAL person, with REAL limitations and REAL quirks, the more I realize I'm really not quite as different as I may have thought...not any more than most other people are, anyway.
There are definitely people I know who do seem to fit in that mold of the super woman...but really, not many. And there really aren't a lot of people I know who fit ANY stereotype I've tried to fit people into.
Anyway...seems like the more I let go of the stereotypes...the less I try to fit people into my boxes...then the less "strange" I seem to be. Or at least...the more strange everyone else seems to be, right along with me, lol.
For example...I feel like I should be able to meet the expectations of the extreme super woman. Successful in everything I do, clean house all the time, great kids, great job, all the volunteer work...and when I don't come close to measuring up to that obviously impossible standard, I feel like I've failed to be as good as what most women are able to do.
But they're not doing all of that, either.
Sure, there are a lot of people caught in the same trap, thinking they need to live up to a stereotype, and maybe those are the only people I've taken my cues from so far. But the more I accept myself as a REAL person, with REAL limitations and REAL quirks, the more I realize I'm really not quite as different as I may have thought...not any more than most other people are, anyway.
There are definitely people I know who do seem to fit in that mold of the super woman...but really, not many. And there really aren't a lot of people I know who fit ANY stereotype I've tried to fit people into.
Anyway...seems like the more I let go of the stereotypes...the less I try to fit people into my boxes...then the less "strange" I seem to be. Or at least...the more strange everyone else seems to be, right along with me, lol.