Why do we shy away from our quirkiness? It’s as though if we show our true colors it somehow makes us less. Pshaw, I say. At least now I say that….I was there, too, afraid to own my quirkiness.

Your quirkiness is what gives you something unique to offer. Just say no to vanilla…boring….snooze-ville. And let’s face it, it’s hard to hide your quirks when stress comes a-knocking.

Last week I confessed about completely forgetting a yoga class I was supposed to teach. Not good. I realized my plate was overflowing which was making some of my quirks bubble to the surface.

That got me to thinking….instead of apologizing for ’em, I’m gonna fly ’em high.

Here’s me, owning my quirkiness. And not to overwhelm you with all my non-vanilla traits I’ll stick to five. Wanna know more?  Share some of your quirks with me and I’ll reciprocate.

1. In elementary school I entered a writing contest with a poem I had plagiarized from a cousin. I won Honorable Mention for it. Winning the ribbon inspired to write my own stuff. {And I swear, everything I’ve written since then has been all from my brain.}

Now I’m a little fanatical about original authorship and copyrights. In training, I refuse to copy pages from a book. Instead I researched, quoted, cited and created a whole new book from others’ great work. Give credit where credit is due. 

2. I graduated from a small high school with 60 total graduates. I was #6 in my class which put me in the top ten percent meaning it didn’t matter what I scored on my SATs…I could get into any state college automatically and I took advantage of that.

I was never into school…until I was out of school. I discovered I’m a life-long learner. And now with online offerings, I can be in school year-round. And the best part? No GPAs to worry about.

3. I never really played with dolls growing up. It was always stuffed animals. I’d line them up and them teach school. I had a chalkboard and lesson plans. I had the smartest stuffed animals in the neighborhood and they all got into the colleges of their choice.

I’ve read that whatever you loved playing as a child is an indication of what you might enjoy doing as an adult. Shock! I’m a yoga teacher AND I’ve been a professor at Collin College for the last two years.

4. I majored in journalism in college and took 4 semesters of news reporting. Fifteen years later I still don’t know when to use lie, lay or laid; nauseous or nauseated; and which or that.

And please don’t feel the need to teach me now.

When it comes time to use one of the above, you’ll probably notice I use them all. “Oh, I’m feeling nauseous. I mean, like totally nauseated.” I cover my bases that way.

5. I go into a cave when I get overwhelmed. The brain shuts off and the only thing that gets me back to middle is to read, read, read. I read in the bathtub. I read in bed at night. I read in the park.

My dad introduced me to the library at a young age. Lost my love for libraries at UNT cause it was dark and smelly.  Then the phenom of bookstores came into existence and I was all about buying, buying, buying. With bookshelves overflowing, I’ve returned to my roots.

My 15-month-old has seriously impeded my ability to read when I’m overwhelmed so now I’m stuck in the cave with nothing to do.