Here’s the thing about me: I work through problems backwards. I start at point D and end up at A when everyone else seems to work A-to-B without a problem. For a while, I tried to be like everyone else. And you know what? It turns out that my way totally works. And once I embraced my authentic self, my beautiful mind, everything started to fall into place.
Recently, my mom sent me a journal she had kept of my life from my toddler years through my early twenties. Reading through it, I was impressed, not just by the detail with which she recorded everything, but by the fact that she withstood the tornado of my early years. She was not only creative, but also fierce in her defense of what I would describe as a creative mind, but most of my teachers saw as “trouble.”
I did not grow up thinking I was different or even realizing that everyone didn’t see the world the way I did. I was, after all, living my reality in the way children do, egocentric and narcissistic. It wasn’t until my (brilliant) mother put a fishing pole in my hand that I began to see the world in a grain of sand.
My forays into nature made the structure of traditional schooling more bearable. When I went off to MSU, I missed out on some of those great college traditions because I was off hunting at every opportunity. But I would argue that hunting was every bit as valuable to my career as my education.
What can you take away from all of this? It is never too late to explore and embrace your authentic self. The very thing that can feel like a burden may be your biggest gift. And when you free yourself from the expectation of others, you are free to be the best hunter you can be.
My contrary mind gives me the ability to help others embrace the opportunities they would not otherwise see. What can yours do for you, the one you love or even the world? How can your buried gift help you hit your targets and live your best life? Explore your depths, hunter, your untapped fields. Meditate on it; spend 5 minutes every day until you find a way to bring it into the light. And then use your beautiful mind to get what you want most.
