I was just talking about this with one of my teens today in counseling! I love the word “Weird”!!!

I’ve always loved the word weird and very rarely have I ever used or thought of in any sort of negative way. It always brought me joy and made me smile from ear to ear to hear a word that just…gets me. I’m assuming this had something to do with growing up in the 90s because a lot of my friends in middle and high school also used this word on a pretty much daily basis. But I’d like to think that I would still be drawn to the word even without having Punky Brewster, Clarissa Darling, and Daria Morgendorffer as major lifelong role models.

As I got older and moved into the more adult and professional world, I started to notice that people thought I had low self esteem when I’d call myself “weird”. There was a time when someone would say to me “aww, no you’re not, dont call yourself that!” almost daily. (Maybe it’s because I worked with a bunch of well meaning therapists.) I found it odd that it came across that way. I often saw it as being authentic and articulate. Nevertheless, I worked to try to build some new vocabulary to make myself seem less self loathing.

But you know what, I still love the word. Because no one is actually normal all of the time. It’s an impossible thing that even Alice can’t do before breakfast. Even if I did truly yearn to be “normal” it’s unrealistic and exhausting to thing to strive for. Honestly, from what I’ve seen in my clinical practice, that often causes even more self esteem issues.

I think it’s human to acknowledge our weirdness, it’s not a weakness. Our uniqueness is what sets us apart- what gives us character and depth, is how we write our stories and share our experiences.

Truth be told, I only want to be normal in a sick sad world where weirdness is normalized!

Let’s normalize weirdness, who’s with me?