A Passion for Diversity

Passion has been defined as “a strong feeling or emotion” and “a strong liking or desire”. If this is the case, my life has had many passions. I am full of strong feelings and emotions. I have taken a strong liking to many activities and subjects in my life. One of my biggest passions has been to learn and to grow as a person. But there is perhaps one larger passion.

From the time I was little, my passion was people. Specifically to help and inspire people. To make things easier for people. One of my mother’s favorite stories to tell people was how, while in second grade, I became a real estate “expert” in order to help her find a house for the both of us because it was stressful to her. I waited every Saturday and Sunday morning to grab the newspaper outside and pull out the real estate section. I would spend hours learning about mortgages and down payments and neighborhoods. Then I would report my findings and we would head out to open houses that I had picked. I did the same thing when we needed a new car.

As I got older, I became the person people went to when they had to make decisions or needed to learn more about something that they found overwhelming. I was the first person to help my classmates with things they didn’t understand, or even through their problems and struggles not necessarily school related. I found that it made me feel really good to be able to help someone solve a problem, come up with a solution, and then help them make it happen. It was also a way for me to connect to people.

As time went on, I began to realize I was different from a lot of my peers, and from other people in general. I could excel at many things and then be completely unable to do things others found simple. I was late to be able to tie my shoes and ride a bike for example. I also struggled with memorizing multiplication tables as another example. To this day I often need to use my fingers to solve a math problem. I had extreme aversion to doing repetitive tasks and sticking to conventional timelines. I would regularly read all my textbooks all the way through at the beginning of a school year and then have difficulty doing work on things I had already learned months before because my mind had already felt “done” with these things and had moved on to more advanced subjects. I learned to hide my difficulties and push through. Enough so that most people didn’t know my internal struggles.

It wasn’t until I was well into adulthood that I found out that I am someone who is Neurodivergent. This is a term that can be used to describe someone on the Autism spectrum, with Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, and other similar disorders. I hesitate to use the word “disorder” because I don’t consider these things to be disorders, but instead I consider them as normal diversity in the human brain pertaining to areas of mood, learning, attention, social skills, and other various mental functions. The mind of a neurodivergent person can be truly beautiful and allow for many wonderful and amazing contributions to society. That being said, people who are neurodivergent have greater difficulty working in and fitting into the traditional and valued parts of society sometimes. They may have a hard time with aspects of life that others find simple and easy. They can have difficulty engaging socially with others. All of these things can add significant stress and struggle into the day to day life of a neurodivergent person. I have witnessed this firsthand with myself, and also with family members and friends.

Despite all this, I was able to have a successful career in a hospital / university setting. First in research, and then in counseling, and even in HR. My driving force was always my passion for people and for making lives better in whatever way I could. The relief I saw on people’s faces when they felt supported and heard and that they had an ally on their side was priceless. There is nothing that feels better to me.

As a neurodivergent person myself with firsthand experience in what that can be like, and because I have a passion to help people, have had success in my life, and have strength in researching, communicating, and coaching, I feel that dedicating my life to helping others who have had similar struggles in their lives by utilizing my strengths is now my life purpose. My passion would be to connect with these other people and help them find solutions to their issues, coach them through tough moments, and facilitate them being their best and happiest selves. I envision the first step of this process as creating monthly newsletters and podcasts on relevant issues and information, including education, tips, stories, and related news. Encouraging feedback and questions so that the needs of the community can be engaged and addressed. Later on, I imagine being able to connect one on one via phone, email, chat, or video to address individual issues and find solutions customized to the individual and their strengths while providing ongoing coaching, support and encouragement. In addition, I envision facilitating online group meetings on various subjects pertaining to common issues that neurodivergent people often have in their lives. This would serve to both connect people who might not have connected otherwise and help them to see that they are not alone, but also to allow people to talk about what has and has not worked for them so that everyone can learn from each other. I see my passion now as being a mentor and life coach for neurodivergent individuals based on my real life experiences and struggles and my desire to help people achieve their potential.

Sometimes being neurodivergent feels like screaming to be heard but in a language that few understand. I hope to be someone who can help people through their struggles as well as be a positive example that enables people to embrace, love, and value all the diversity of the mind within the species that is homo sapiens.