I always knew I was different. When I was a child, I could see spirits and interact with them. I also grew up in a loving but abusive household when I was really young. These situations taught me what it meant to read energy, what to keep to myself, and how to contort myself to ‘people please’ and to ‘keep the peace ‘. This ‘contorting’ involved suppressing my true self, my unique experiences, and my unconventional perspectives to fit into societal norms and expectations.

Once I started school, I realized that speaking my truths about what I remembered, imagined, or saw was not very well received as I couldn’t fit into the carefully defined box defined by the school. So again, I learned to contort myself to fit my school’s desired mold. This experience of not fitting in, of feeling isolated, is something I’m sure many of you have felt at some point in your lives.

Fast forward a few years, and I found myself dealing with a medical situation that didn’t fit into any defined boxes according to what science and the medical profession understood and accepted as truth at the time. It took a few long years of medical tests, being told it was all in my head and that I was “looking for attention” before they finally discovered what was happening. And, of course, it didn’t fit into any defined mold in the medical world. The frustration of not being understood by the very people who were supposed to help was overwhelming.