It is not always easy to be the odd one

Since I was young I felt I am a little odd with the things I questioned about life. It seemed like everything felt normal to others while I had to figure out if they really are.

I questioned why we had to make "work" our priority. I questioned why my manager who had a stay-at-home-wife would judge me as a working mom. I questioned why I had to feel bad if I finished my work at 5PM and leave. I questioned why work had to be this excruciating for so many. I questioned why we had to give up on integrity to reach certain numbers that were made up in the first place. I questioned why we do not think long term with our clients.

I questioned if I should continue to live where I was born. I questioned if there is a better life for me out there. I questioned if there is a better way to think to have a perspetive in life. I questioned if I should raise my child with the same values I was raised. I questioned the formula given to me to be successful in life. I questioned if there are any limiting beliefs that was keeping me away from my dreams. I questioned if I want to be a different kind of parent, wife, daugther, and employee. I questioned what work meant to me. I questioned if the leadership I experienced can be different. I questioned if people had to suffer this much at work. I questioned my thoughts. I questioned what it means to be a citizen of this planet. I questioned if we had to live inside borders. I questioned how we see eachother so differently.

All of these made me take unconventional paths. I quit a great job on paper. I moved to another country with no real plans and very little money. I started businesses that nobody understood. While I did all of this, for the most part I got suspicious looks or flat outloud disapproval. I got questions that needed very conventional answers. I got silence when people around me were at least trying to be respectful even when they had no idea what I was doing. I had times when I felt like nobody understod me. (Except my husband. What a luck?)

I basically felt odd.

These feelings or reactions sometimes made me shy to share what I do. They made me stay hidden although inside of me I always knew I can help so many. They made me crave for approval. Somebody has to understand what I am trying to do. Sometimes I felt like I had to scream: How come what I am sharing with all my heart is not understood? Why don't you believe this is possible? Why don't you get excited with me? These things will make people happy! How come you don't see what I see?

This is all hard but over time I understood I do not need any company to take this path, I don't need a buy-in, I don't need approval. I just have to continue what I believe in. I know I am odd but now it feels good.

When I gave up getting approval or waiting for others to understand what I do, all the odd ones like me showed up. :) Funny how life works, right?

If you can relate to how I felt before, come and join me. Do not stay shy and do not give up! The world needs you.

"Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes ... the ones who see things differently -- they're not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo. ... You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things. ... They push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the people who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do." STEVE JOBS