Life Lessons: Embrace the Quirk!

I just got stopped by a colleague who was trying to figure out what I was doing with my hands while I was walking down the hall. I told him I was spatial, that using my hands helped me think better (This is mostly true. I pretty much use my hands all the time when talking, whether I’m trying to organize my thoughts or not). He thought it was hysterical, but another colleague who was behind us obviously thought it was just dumb, making fun of my hand motions. A few minutes later that colleague passed me again in the hall, saying he was thinking while making hand motions. I could tell he was enjoying himself, ridiculing tone or not.

You know what I said, of course. You’re Welcome! Using his hands probably won’t help that man think better, but it likely made his afternoon more fun than it had been.

It got me thinking about what differentiates blah people from the spectacular ones, people who seem to be having fun all the time versus people who are always grumpy. I think it’s knowing and embracing the quirks, and fortunately I’m surrounded by people who have plenty (myself included).

For example, I have a friend who loves green onions, only we don’t call them that, we strictly refer to them by their more posh name, scallions. And whenever either of us see them on a menu inform the other with a “Scallion Alert!” It’s completely unnecessary, and yet it makes me feel like we have a connection even when we’re in entirely different locations doing entirely different things.

I also have a friend who meows. She uses it as an exclamation and also in place of words when meow-ing along to songs. I enjoy it so much, I find myself doing it.

The oddities of your friends and those peculiar things you do with them are what make your relationships with them so special. In some cases, it’s probably the main reason you hang out with them in the first place. My mother stated it best. Whenever she points out something silly I’m doing she says "I’m just enjoying you".

I say, EMBRACE THE QUIRK! Both your own and those of the folks around you. Don’t belittle someone’s personality traits just because they aren’t your own. You may think you’re above all that nonsense but all you’re doing is making yourself unlikeable and limiting your own enjoyment.

The next time you run across a girl doing a cheerleading routine on the corner take notice that the folks around her are laughing just as hysterically as she is. She doesn’t need you to feel sorry for her, you see, she’s in on the joke. You’re the one missing out on all the fun.