How would you know if you or someone you love is a brilliant misfit?

Misfits stand out. As kids they frequently are misunderstood, withdrawn, insecure, aggressive, bullied, fearful, prefer to talk to older children or adults. Some of them are challenging to be with. They ALWAYS hide a secret behind this kind of unusual behavior, be it a cry for help of a part of their own brilliance - on a subconscious level!

Everyone has misfit stories! What are yours?

Today I want to invite you to share your own experiences along those lines, inspired by two of my misfit stories:

I grew up in a small village of 800 people in the Bavarian Alps near Munich. All four grades in Elementary School shared one classroom and the teacher moved from grade to grade with carefully selected questions to engage each small group. By the end of first grade, I had memorized all the questions she asked to the higher grades and was proud to blurt out the answers. I got in trouble over and over again because I could not stop and did not want to. It was so much fun to feel so smart. However, my excellent grades started to go up and down and this trend became stronger during High School. The ups and downs resulted in a deep insecurity about my academic capabilities, and I developed strong tendencies to second-guess myself.

After graduating from the University in Munich with a Master's degree in Education, Biology, and Chemistry my friend Luigi and I bought a VW minibus for a true travel adventure: We drove from Munich to India for 3 months. In Istanbul/Turkey our engine broke down and we spent 50% of our travel budget to get it fixed. Now what? End of our travel dreams? No Way!

Our car could accommodate 6 people easily and we offered rides to backpacking travelers from Istanbul to Ankara, from Ankara to Teheran/Iran and so on. We created income to finance our trip by offering comfortable transportation in a world of local buses that frequently broke down and were extremely unreliable. It gave us the life changing privilege to experience Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan before these countries were devastated by war, terrorism and conflict. I loved every day on this adventure trip and all these countless impressions changed my perspective on life forever: I went beyond he limits of being German. Today I feel grateful for these international human experiences that made me feel like a global citizen. I learned to love being a brilliant misfit!

Please click here to join our Brilliant Misfit community and share your story.