I used to think I was the strangest person in the world but then I thought there are so many people in the world, there must be someone just like me who feels bizarre and flawed in the same ways I do. I would imagine her, and imagine that she must be out there thinking of me too. Well, I hope that if you are out there and read this and know that, yes, it's true I'm here, and I'm just as strange as you.” - Frida Kahlo
I was reminded about this quote the other day while watching the episode of Six Feet Under (one of my favorite shows filled with great, complex, and truly strange characters) when Ruth (the mom) goes to a meeting of The Plan (a self-help kind of group), and the instructor has everyone do an exercise where they imagine everyone else is laughing at them, telling them it's a joke and to laugh once they get it. It takes some of them only a few seconds to get it, while others take a while longer. But Ruth doesn't get it. She just gets mad.
I got the joke right away. Not because I'm smart or witty or anything. But because I've done a lot of thinking about how we are always so quick to assume that other folks are thinking about us when in reality they're too busy worrying about whether we're thinking about them to really do much of anything else.
What made me think of this quote was not the joke from the show, but the idea that no matter how self-assured we are, we all have moments where we can identify with this quote to one degree or another. We all have what we see as a strangeness that separate us from the people around us. We all feel alone at one time or another. And it's comforting to know that there might be someone else out there who shares our strangeness, and who might be thinking about us as well.
My question to you is this:
Where do you find inspiration to celebrate your strangeness?
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