Feeling Like an Alien: Different Perspectives, Sensitivity and Neurodivergence

Back when I lived in Texas, my 70-something neighbor thought it was great fun to tell his grandchildren that "there's an ALIEN living next door" as a mean to freak them out with some light hearted fun. I guess the whole family over there spent a fair amount of time "watching the skies" for UFOs and wondering about "little green men."

(They are actually not green, they are gray... and those particular aliens are assholes. But I digress...)

So, one day four wee kidlets between the ages of about three and ten show up at my front door, all wide-eyed and shifty, and nervously ask "Grandpa says you're an ALIEN! Is that really true?"

I nodded and assured them that it was true, and that I even had an ID card from the Government that gave me permission to be here. Then I pulled out my wallet and showed them my "Resident Alien" card — also known as a "Green Card," here in the US — and they ran off in a storm of giggles.

Of course, that was all in good fun.

The sad thing is that I often do feel like an alien, on this planet. I don't mean that in a "poor pitiful me" sort of way, but in the sense that I often relate differently than the rest of the world.

It's not so easy to explain exactly how that works for me... but perhaps it's most readily characterized by the frequency with which I find myself contemplating something another person(s) has said or done and just not grokking why anyone would do or say that.

And I'm not trying to be difficult or stubborn pig of some kind... I just don't get it.

Whether it's the relentless pursuit of riches, far beyond any reasonable needs... or an obsession with self-image that (often) in no way reflects who the actual person is, or the need to control and "manage" every person who crosses someone else's path... I end up truly feeling like I came from another planet.

It would be easy for me to simply attribute these feelings to neurodivergence. After all, I am not only a highly sensitive person, I am also mildly autistic in certain areas of my life.

Of course, it could be argued that likely most people have felt out of step with the world, at one time or another.

But "most people" also seem to make a solid attempt at fitting back in, because they worry a lot about "what others might think," if they don't. Whereas I care what other people think from the perspective of not wanting to hurt them by my choices, I definitely don't care what they think about my not fitting their particular set of checkboxes.

Neurodivergence is an interesting beast. Interesting, in the sense that it is broadly misunderstood, and often has nothing to do with someone being "Rain Man" like and socially awkward.

It simply means not responding in a "typical" fashion to some of life's events, trials and tribulations.

It can be quite simple things like thing that stress out a lot of people might not bother me in the slightest, while things that freak me out and fill me with anxiety is taken in stride by the majority.

Diverging.

Diverging from the prescribed path officially labeled as "normalcy." Ironically, that might include calling people out for things like societally accepted immoral or criminal behavior.

As philosopher Jiddu Krishamurti observed: "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society"

And such a "profoundly sick" society will label you as "neurodivergent" as a way to chastise you for having the nerve to point out that the majority is actually messed up!

Without a doubt, this journey through life is tricky for most of us... in some ways. And that's OK. Nobody promised it was going to be easy!

Or did they...?

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great remainder of your weekend!

How about you? Have you ever felt like an "alien" in this world? Do you see neurodivergence as an illness, or mere... a divergence? Leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — Not posted elsewhere!)

Created at 2024.03.17 01:27 PDT
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