When the clock hits 11:09am/pm each day, I think of my birthday. Is it just me or do you do something similar that you find odd, slightly disturbing?
I’m trying to decide what is normal behavior and what is pushing the limits of neurosis.
(I should probably reserve more than just 1 week to ascertain this.)
But, quirkiness is sometimes just that…a quirk you possess.
Side note: I’m not trying to belittle neurosis and Jung’s theory at all here. So please don’t misread this post and its intentions. Here’s a great article to read concerning mental health struggles.
Rather, I’d like to focus on actions that are more ‘quirk’ than disorder and not to be confused with: obsessive-compulsive, impulsivity, anxiety, phobias, and hysteria.
- Things like seeing my birth date on a clock display. Make a wish. Kind of stuff.
- Counting steps involuntarily as you climb/descend them at work.
- Remembering fragments (or whole passages) of material on specific pages of a book.
- Are these nervous ticks? Maybe. But, sometimes they’re gifts as well.
God gives us uniqueness all the way down to our finger prints.
My name is anything but unique, but I’m learning to be okay with that–finally. My height is average. But, there are so many gifts just below the surface, and it might just mean taking a little extra time to look for them in your life.
For you–maybe you have a knack for telling jokes. Or, you can condense large bits of information down into relatable doses for those of us less inclined to remember a dictionary. Whatever it is–it’s uniqueness that only you have.
Picture yourself like Wolverine in X-Men recognizing (for the first time) that he has adamantium coursing through his veins.
That is you. Anything but average.
Your name, your height, your eye color might be like billions of others, and that is a good thing, too. It can make your connection to others even stronger. It, too, makes you relatable.
“Loving God, Loving people” is a phrase you might hear a lot. Your quirkiness makes that even easier. Believe it or not.
As I typed this, I just recognized that I haven’t been letting this be (in my life) what it is: a gift. Here’s to a week of letting that resonate with you. Here’s my church’s most recent podcast regarding ‘Biblical Blunders’ and uniqueness of those being used by God (failures and all). Listen here . Part 3 should be added this week, and it includes even more people to study and note their quirks. Hope it helps strengthen your view (of yourself) this week.
Feel free to share quirks you may have.