Giraffe
Leaf Muncher
- Jun 1, 2023
- 9
When I was young, my mother read me a story called Stellaluna. It's was about a young bat that got lost from its mother, but got taken in by a nest of birds. The bat learned bird-like behavior like eating worms, flying, and sleeping right-side up, but there was one exception: the bat was nocturnal. Despite both the bat's and the bird's wishes to be alike, the bat was unable to conform to the bird's sleep cycle, nor the bird to the bat.
The book goes on to have a moral based on friendship despite differences, but I want to revisit the exposition. You see, the birds heard the words the bat was saying (they could apparently communicate with each other I think
) but couldn't fully understand them. The birds kept trying to make the bat conform to their way of life, not understanding that the bat is fundamentally different from them. I bring this up because I can relate it to my own personal experience.
I lived a relatively normal American lifestyle with my parents up until around middle school. There I started to distance myself from my friends over the whole 3 year stretch until, by high school, I didn't have anyone I'd hang out with. In effect, no friends, and I was happy with that. Friends and socializing just didn't seem to call to me as much as it did to everyone else. What some people did for fun I saw as a meaningless chore to build rapport with someone I don't even like.
My parents took note of this and tried to intervene, setting up reunifications with old pals and encouraging meeting new people, but it never worked. It didn't seem to click for me, or more accurately, to them. You see, I relate to the bat in that story mentioned previously. I try to explain to them, "I don't draw any enjoyment from talking to people... Socialization just isn't my thing... I'm not like you guys, I just want to be alone..." But it was pointless. They heard my words but they couldn't understand the meaning behind them, rightfully so, as they have never been in my shoes before. They've always had the urge to socialize.
In that sense, I think that is why this site is so popular, it's a place people can go to truly feel understood. We're all bats here, maybe we can learn to be fine with that and excel despite our troubles, or maybe we're all doomed to fall out of the sky at one time or another. What is certain is that almost everyone here has some level of understanding, and that's a beautiful thing.
BTW I think I have Antisocial Personality Disorder. I didn't have a good place to throw that in but I'm quoting this from a website I read online(lmao),
"More generally, people with antisocial personality disorder may seem to lack empathy for the people around them, behave in arrogant or cocky ways, or have an excessively cynical view of the world."
That describes me verbatim. I actually paused when I read that because it was like the person was describing me. So ye
I might be psycho. Anyways, have a good day.
The book goes on to have a moral based on friendship despite differences, but I want to revisit the exposition. You see, the birds heard the words the bat was saying (they could apparently communicate with each other I think
) but couldn't fully understand them. The birds kept trying to make the bat conform to their way of life, not understanding that the bat is fundamentally different from them. I bring this up because I can relate it to my own personal experience.I lived a relatively normal American lifestyle with my parents up until around middle school. There I started to distance myself from my friends over the whole 3 year stretch until, by high school, I didn't have anyone I'd hang out with. In effect, no friends, and I was happy with that. Friends and socializing just didn't seem to call to me as much as it did to everyone else. What some people did for fun I saw as a meaningless chore to build rapport with someone I don't even like.
My parents took note of this and tried to intervene, setting up reunifications with old pals and encouraging meeting new people, but it never worked. It didn't seem to click for me, or more accurately, to them. You see, I relate to the bat in that story mentioned previously. I try to explain to them, "I don't draw any enjoyment from talking to people... Socialization just isn't my thing... I'm not like you guys, I just want to be alone..." But it was pointless. They heard my words but they couldn't understand the meaning behind them, rightfully so, as they have never been in my shoes before. They've always had the urge to socialize.
In that sense, I think that is why this site is so popular, it's a place people can go to truly feel understood. We're all bats here, maybe we can learn to be fine with that and excel despite our troubles, or maybe we're all doomed to fall out of the sky at one time or another. What is certain is that almost everyone here has some level of understanding, and that's a beautiful thing.
BTW I think I have Antisocial Personality Disorder. I didn't have a good place to throw that in but I'm quoting this from a website I read online(lmao),
"More generally, people with antisocial personality disorder may seem to lack empathy for the people around them, behave in arrogant or cocky ways, or have an excessively cynical view of the world."
That describes me verbatim. I actually paused when I read that because it was like the person was describing me. So ye
I might be psycho. Anyways, have a good day.
