Emily, This is wonderful. Deeply insightful and so very well-written. Many phrases are just perfect: "your unique blend of proclivities, talents, and heart." It needs/deserves wider circulation, and I think is definitely publishable at some point. I'm not sure about the "Share" button -- is it okay to share this to facebook? Hope you and all your family are well, and I'm so glad you're writing. You ARE a writer.
I love your writing and get excited every time I get an email that you've published a new post. I can identify with some of what you said about trying to hide yourself in order to blend in. Our reasons for this are vastly different - mine was physical abnormalities because of birth defects. Ugh - the term "birth defects" has such awful connotation. As if a person is defective just because they don't look like everyone else. I hate it. I've done alot of work in therapy to get to a place of loving and accepting myself.
Also, side note: Yes, everyone in Bartlesville had Doc Martins in 1996. I had a pair except my Mom couldn't bring herself to pay the insane cost for the "cool" pair. So I get an "uncool" pair. I think I wore them once and never again because of a negative comment about them not being cool. How easily we are influenced as middle schoolers.
Laura, thank you so much for this note. Your story about the Doc Martens rings so true for me. I remember begging my dad for all these stupidly expensive clothes, as if that would somehow make me like myself more. I remember how you were shunned in high school, and I can imagine the years of therapy it would take to unravel some of that hurt. I recently learned of another story of a classmate who repressed their true self through high school, for fear of not being accepted. Bartlesville looked so "normal" and shiny on the surface, and I think it's a good reminder that appearances are so deceiving.
Emily, This is wonderful. Deeply insightful and so very well-written. Many phrases are just perfect: "your unique blend of proclivities, talents, and heart." It needs/deserves wider circulation, and I think is definitely publishable at some point. I'm not sure about the "Share" button -- is it okay to share this to facebook? Hope you and all your family are well, and I'm so glad you're writing. You ARE a writer.
Emily,
I love your writing and get excited every time I get an email that you've published a new post. I can identify with some of what you said about trying to hide yourself in order to blend in. Our reasons for this are vastly different - mine was physical abnormalities because of birth defects. Ugh - the term "birth defects" has such awful connotation. As if a person is defective just because they don't look like everyone else. I hate it. I've done alot of work in therapy to get to a place of loving and accepting myself.
Also, side note: Yes, everyone in Bartlesville had Doc Martins in 1996. I had a pair except my Mom couldn't bring herself to pay the insane cost for the "cool" pair. So I get an "uncool" pair. I think I wore them once and never again because of a negative comment about them not being cool. How easily we are influenced as middle schoolers.
Laura, thank you so much for this note. Your story about the Doc Martens rings so true for me. I remember begging my dad for all these stupidly expensive clothes, as if that would somehow make me like myself more. I remember how you were shunned in high school, and I can imagine the years of therapy it would take to unravel some of that hurt. I recently learned of another story of a classmate who repressed their true self through high school, for fear of not being accepted. Bartlesville looked so "normal" and shiny on the surface, and I think it's a good reminder that appearances are so deceiving.
Laura, I am so glad that you follow, Emily. I remember you as a very cool person!!