The hassle of fitting in

“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society” Jiddu Krishnamurti

What would happen if I marched to the beat of my own drum?

Listen to this story of Gillian Lynne

Growing up in England in the 1930s,  Gillian Lynne was 7-years old when her mother took her to the doctor because her school was concerned that she had a learning disorder. Unable to sit still, Gillian had earned the nickname Wriggle Bottom. Gillian felt hopeless, her teachers were exasperated, and her mother was at the end of her tether. The idea of ADHD had not been born yet. What happened at that doctor’s office radically changed Gillian’s life.

After listening to Gillian’s mother explain the teachers’ concerns about Gillian’s disruptive behavior, the doctor and Gillian’s mother stepped outside the office to speak privately. Before leaving the office, the doctor put some music on his tiny office radio. From the hallway outside that office, Mrs. Lynne and the doctor peered in and observed Gillian jumping and twirling around the room, enraptured by the music. The doctor turned to Mrs. Lynne and famously said, “There is nothing wrong with your child. She is a dancer.” After which he recommended Gillian be enrolled in dance school.

Gillian’s mom did enroll her in dance school about which Gillian remarked later, “Everyone was like me! They needed to move to be able to think. It was wonderful!”

Gillian went on to have a wonderful career at the Royal Ballet. She eventually graduated from the Royal Ballet School and met Andrew Lloyd Webber. She’s been responsible for some of the most successful theater productions in history such as Cats and Phantom of the Opera, giving pleasure and inspiration to millions.

If young Gillian Lynne grew up in our schools today it is likely that the current ‘help’ offered would have resulted in testing, diagnosis, and medication. To adjust her to what the schoolsystem asked, instead of the other way around.

Like the basic Darwinian principle: We all tend to adjust to survive. Interestingly so, it is sometimes our anomaly that holds the potential to thrive.

What if I appreciate the parts of me that don’t fit in, because they do just that?