Different

Have you ever felt different from everyone else you know?

Yes, I know, grand scheme of things... we are all different.

But different .

From everyone.

I have been told that I was different my whole life.

As a child, it was "special".

As a teenager, it was "wrong".

As an adult, it's "weird".

Most people think the ways I am different are good ways.

I'm different because I am who I am:

considerate of other people's thoughts and feelings,

an optimist who sees the grass on both sides of the fence,

enthusiastic about the future of the world.

But those years of self-discovery that I always talk about?

The first few years were me figuring out who I am,

The rest was me trying to be okay with being that person.

Normal people don't get excited about shovelling snow.

Normal people don't like every single type of music.

Normal people don't like that their parents have sex.

Normal people don't love with this intensity.

Normal people don't cry because they have so many people who love them but not a single person who "gets" them. And not a single person ever has.

Yeah, I've come to terms with the fact that I'm weird.

I even love me for it now.

I just don't believe that anyone else will ever feel the same.

Because, wherever I am,

there always has to be a side of me that stays hidden.