Sometimes—maybe many times—you might feel out of sorts, less than, awkward or dumb because something doesn’t work for you, even though people tell you it should.
Actor-producer-writer, Henry Winkler, was called a dumb dog (or rather the nickname ‘dummer hund’) by his German born father because Winkler struggled—suffered really—in school due to his undiagnosed dyslexia.
He still rails against the injustices of feeling stupid for not knowing how to write or say words like ‘hypotenuse’.
I know how he feels. There are many different types of intelligences (some say 11) and yet we only measure a few.
We come up with one standard of beauty, success and happiness.
When you don’t fit the mold, you’re made to feel subpar.
That’s how I feel every time I lose a precious hour to daylight savings. I know it sounds superficial and simplistic, but I have a point to make so please bear with me.
To me, daylight savings is an outside invader to a life that I’m trying my best to keep in proper order ( I won’t say balanced).
And then I have to spring forward and…
My sleep schedule’s off.
My eating is off.
My work, exercise, research schedule is off.
So I fumble to grab onto something to get back on track and come up with something new that’s really just old.
I shift things to match what my new normal is so I don’t live by the clock. Some activities that were at 8PM are now at 7PM. I’ll stream shows that I can’t get to. I’ll find that missing hour somehow. It doesn’t always work, especially when other people are involved, but I manage until things settle into a schedule that works for me.
Why am I harping on about one little hour?
Because sometimes what seems like a minor change can have a huge impact on you and the first instinct is for people to think ‘What is wrong with me?’ Just as little Henry Winkler likely did for many decades.
I’m saying, if something isn’t working—whether it’s the way you learn, work, exercise, create—it may not be you. Be kind to yourself and find out what does work. You have many choices.
The road to success isn’t a road. It’s an ocean.
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“It’s Not You” © 2016 Dara Girard; Image copyright © 2016 by 123rf/Mihai Maxim
My latest non-fiction title, 10 Things to Forget: to be Creatively Free was a blast to write. On this blog, I’ve been writing on topics that didn’t make it into the book and others I’ve expanded on. You can read some other posts here.