I grew up thinking that something was wrong with me. It has taken decades for “something else to happen” to teach me I make mistakes and therefore I am right. It is part of the human condition to be wrong because that is how we learn.
I didn’t learn until I was 40 years old that I in fact had a learning disability “dyslexia”. I spent the vast part of my life feeling bad about myself. Feeling embarrassed and ashamed. I spent the vast portion of my life hiding, pretending, and trying to distract people. I developed some charm, charisma and verbal communication skills as smoke and mirrors hoping that no one would notice that I was stupid, lazy and an irresponsible dimwit, as said by Kathryn Schuly in the TED piece below.
How much of my life I have wasted being an underachiever because I didn’t understand why my brain seemed to not work like others. My sense of shame was reinforced by my family who did not understand what was wrong with me and therefore labeled me “mentally ill” as an explanation for why I couldn’t seem to learn. That stuck with me for a life time. I have also learnt that I have PTSD and now believe that it is quite conceivable that my learning disability was a result of trauma.
Don’t be afraid of being wrong for it is part of developing your character and learning what really has meaning for you, helping direct you onto the path that will express the essence of who you really are.
