I didn't always. No, high school was a cruel place, even college was skewed toward the normies. I imagined, "When I grow up, none of this popularity BS will matter. We'll all be mature and appreciate each other for who we are, our diversity of viewpoints and life experiences. It won't matter who's cool and who's not; who has the most toys/cars/clothes. We'll be beyond all nonsense."
And then I grew up...and guess what? We're not. We still climb the social ladder and gossip about our co-workers, just like study hall.
But here's the difference - Me. I'm no longer that nervous kid, trying to figure out who I want to be. I know myself and I love being a nerd. I proudly quote lines from Monty Python. I have a favorite bacteria, favorite genes and favorite virus. I think anime is neat and comics should be a serious storytelling medium. I love sci-fi and fantasy books and I read Game of Thrones before the TV series!
My top 5 reasons why it's good to be a nerd (special thanks to my FB friends for your suggestions):
4 - Adventure! Books, movies, places, people, hobbies, food, careers. Nerds try new things. We have more interests and are less bored. We're early adopters and trailblazers, quietly trend setting.
3 - Accepting others, no matter how strange. Nerds are always a little out of step, a bit out of sync. We know what it's like to be weird, different, other. We're ok with people being not normal.
2 - I'm smarter than everyone else. Nerds are expected to be witty, clever, sarcastic/sardonic. No more pretending not to know the answer so I won't get labeled 'Teacher's Pet'.1 - The huge relief of not having to try to be cool, hip, groovy, superswank, in, boss, etc. I can be myself and love what I love without it ruining all my carefully hoarded social points.
What are your favorite aspects of being a nerd?
I'm not sure if I'm cool enough to be an official a "nerd", but one thing I love is the laughter that comes along with my role playing group. We laugh over the silliest things and I have to say that I have probably burned more fat in D&D than I ever did with my gym membership :P
ReplyDeleteSee, being a nerd is good for you both mentally and physically :)
DeleteMolly,
ReplyDeleteI love your sense of humor. I think nerds have the ability to be more sure of themselves than most, for some of the very reasons you've mentioned in this post. We've learned not to care what others think
I couldn't agree more. You realize that you can make it on your own, so you don't have to be scared to try new things
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