Dysfunctional

Dysfunctional dan skognes motivation blogger speaker teacher trainer coach educatorThere is an old joke that says: My family puts the FUN in dysFUNctional. Perhaps you can relate to that. Every family seems to have at least one dysfunctional person. If you don’t know who it is in your family, look in the mirror.  LOL.

I was doing lunchroom duty this week and two second grade kids were arguing. The little girl was visibly upset and punching a little boy.  I went over to them to see what was going on. She said, “He called me weird!”  I laughed and said, “Hey, that is OK. I am weird…and I like it!” She immediately changed from being defensive to smiling and realizing that it was OK to be a little weird.

We live in a world of conformity. The non-conformists are made to feel weird and there is an incredible pressure to get in line and go with the crowd. As a result, kids who are different from the rest either withdraw to themselves or they compromise who they are for the sake of fitting in.

I have the type of personality that I want to please people. I want to be liked and I want to fit in. As I got older, I realized that I needed to be myself and quit trying to be part of the in-crowd. There is no peace or fulfillment in being anyone other than who God created us to be. The truth is, there will always be people that don’t like you or accept you…and there does not even have to be a good reason why they don’t like you. So, why are we trying to please everyone?

When I am saying it is OK to be weird, please don’t twist that to mean anything evil or immoral. I just mean different. It is OK to be yourself. Celebrate who you are and accept the fact that not everyone is going to like you or be like you. We are all unique when it comes right down to it. We all have our quirks.

Be kind especially to those that are different. I was at a funeral recently and the preacher quoted Timothy Keller. He said, “The deepest need we all have is to be fully known and truly loved.” That is a deep thought. That is how God loves us. He knows us completely and still loves us…despite our faults and failures. Let’s do our best to love people the way God does. It would make a better world for everyone, wouldn’t it?

Shalom!

Dan Skognes

2 Responses to “Dysfunctional”

  1. Cristina says:

    Thank you very much, I just needed this! I think any of us here -writing, reading, just listening… -is a little weird (just a little?!). We are all different from the crowd and want to be ourselves -as God created us, as you said. Thank you for everything you share!