Useful Weirdness
"That thing that made you weird as a kid could make you great as an adult — if you don’t lose it" - Kevin Kelly
Has it ever occurred to you that things people used to judge you for (or laugh at you for) could very well be signs of brilliance?
My childhood and teenage years were an odyssey of experiments that were buoyed by my overactive imagination.
When I was 7 or 8, I devised a game. Pay me 10 cents, and I'd let you compete with a few other girls in class to see who would be able to sink the most scrunched up paper balls into my pencil case.
The winner would gain a prize (which of course, was a cute eraser that I'd purchase for.... 10 cents!) The other girls in class clamored to play this and I was bringing in some nice pocket money. Everything was going well, until some furious parents wrote in. I got seriously reprimanded by my teacher, and was forced to write personal apologies to my classmates. My parents were appalled at the fact that I tried to do that. I'd actually be proud if my future kid attempts something like this.
I ran a publication called "The Buzz" at the tender age of 10. A handful of my classmates and I would publish tips on how to reach millionaire status on Neopets quickly, clip out comics from the newspapers and report on the latest soccer scores in the English Premier League. Once we completed this publication, we'd pass it around the class for anyone interested to read. Some people thought it was weird but we loved it.
Who would have thought that 20 years later, I'd continue curation & entertainment in a different form. I am now curating a weekly newsletter sharing the wonderful tools & sites I find on the Internet and getting paid to entertain, educate and inform.
Weird is cool. Embrace your weirdness.
