It took 47 years to come to terms that I will be always a MISFIT - professionally and socially and finally I am OK with it. I never fitted anywhere in my life in any stereotype groups in the past, neither in my current life, so I take it as a certainty it won't change in the future.
As the only child of emigrants I had to grow up quickly to help them by chipping in with a lot of duties and chores after school and weekends. Therefore I never had the chance of being part of a clique since I didn't share their outings, lifestyle and experiences.
I was seen as an "In -Betweener" and being different. As a child I suffered from a light form of epilepsy and had to take strong medication for it, which came with a lot of limitations of what I was able to do. On top of it I was only later in life diagnosed with dyslexia.
Paired with the fact that I was also different in my build in comparison to my friends, I had no chance of fitting in visually with all the trendy hip teenager fashion that friends and schoolmates were able to wear.
After school I had many dreams of what I wanted to do, but the problem was with each job I held was that I had a strong interest in each of them but wasn't passionate about any of them enough to continue in them.
My turning point was when living in London and meeting my husband, saw life very differently, but the same as I did. Only then I started finally to see the" red thread" in my life, how things were hanging and coming together. It is how Steve Jobs said: " You can only connect the dots backwards but never forward."
Today I am living the life of an underdog, who tries to challenge fashion rules with our design concept rather settling into a conventional life and life style.
Life has changed dramatically over the past decades, because we don't need to live and work where we were born and raised and with the world of the internet life and work has changed all over again.
Living in a big multicultural city as London makes it easier to be a MISFIT and to blend in since it is such a big melting pot of people coming from all walks of life. I found that the key of interacting with all the different groups is not of trying to fit in, but rather becoming an " in-betweener", meaning you share an interest but you are not obsessed with it or your life doesn't resolve around it. You might not being let into the "inner circle", but it will give you an opportunity to interact with all the different groups that you share interest with.
I am only a very little fish in comparison to all the other famous MISFITS, who with their brilliant minds and dedication changed the world we live in.
In 1997 Apple's "Think Different campaign "was launched by Steve Jobs:
"Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently - they're not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things. They push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the people who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do."
Albert Einstein:
"The woman who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The woman who walks alone is likely to find herself in places no one has ever been before."
Henry Ford
"When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.
We misfits learn early that we are different and that we need to fight for our individuality where conformity rules. It is all about surviving as an individual, trying to be heard and seen, and these survival skills will stay with us when leaving school. We know how to survive, being self -sufficient and how to help ourselves when being against the odds.
So, never be disheartened or discourage thinking differently or not to fit in. Keep remembering when people walk away from you- just let them go. It doesn't make them bad people; it doesn't make you a bad person to be around- it simply means that their part in your story is over and your next chapter is about to start.