The only way to realize oneself is to embrace one's diversity

Twenty-five years ago a professor stole a dream from me.

And only because I thought differently from him.

Now I am getting that dream back -- but my life would have been totally different.

As a child I loved to write.

I wrote stories, poems, songs, diary pages -- and I wrote a lot!

I don't know if it was my way of expressing my sensitivity....

...or my way of escaping from a world in which I felt like a fish out of water.

I don't know.

I do know, though, that I was good:

In elementary school, teachers praised me.

In middle school, ditto.

The first two years of high school even the Italian teacher wanted to enter me in contests.

Then something broke down:

In eighth grade a new Italian teacher comes in. And from the beginning we took it badly.

I know-I was quite a mess back then, and my favorite sport was making the class laugh with borderline ethical jokes.

I used to write well, though.

And above all I was writing from the heart:

I was not afraid to express my ideas.

I was not afraid to break the status quo.

I was not afraid to write differently from others.

I was different, sure. And I was also showing it in my writing.

But this being different of mine was not liked by the new teacher, who began to put very low grades on me.

And I who had the self-esteem of a hamster-I thought he was right.

I thought I wasn't really good, that before that moment everybody had lied to me.

And so I stopped writing.

Or rather: I kept writing because it is in my essence.

But I stopped believing that writing could become anything more than an outlet.

And I began to believe that being different doesn't work so well...

So I became homologous.

And I suffered for years. I suffered so much that I wanted to end it.

It took me 13 years, then, to realize that being different is normal. In fact: that it is a super power.

And if I am here today, it is only because of the love of my family.

And I am grateful for that.

And I'm also grateful for my path, because it has given me the awareness of who I am.

And the knowledge that embracing one's diversity is the only way to truly be well. And to achieve fulfillment.

However...

However, the doubt that I could now be a professional writer always remained with me!

So, to remove my doubt, I took up the pen again more seriously.

And in the last 6-7 years I have churned out 4 books.

And now--now I have to admit that I don't know whether I like writing or painting more:

Lest I be mistaken, I pursue both!

And who knows: maybe one day, walking into a downtown bookstore....

that Italian professor will realize he made a colossal miscalculation ;P


Challenge the ordinary, embrace the unusual. Always.

Emanuele