Pearl Nash
No matter what you do, you defy expectations and stereotypes—there are just so many facets to who you are that you simply can’t be shoved in a box.
You like to think of yourself as unique, but just how unique are you?
Well, here are 10 signs you’re a unique individual who can’t be pigeon-holed.
Check out how many of these you can relate to.
1) You’re not afraid to be “uncool”
The only people who can truly step out of the box are the ones who aren’t afraid to be seen as uncool.
They don’t care if people think a love song they like is “sappy”, or if their new favorite movie is ‘cringe.”
And they don’t care if their fashion is five centuries out of date, or if the way they carry themselves is “weird.”
In the end, the things they watch, wear, or listen to are their business and no-one else’s. So they don’t care if people think they’re “uncool”, because they’d rather be uncool as long as they’re happy with who they are.
There are bound to be people who will like them for who they are anyways. And who knows—maybe those snobs will end up changing their mind and going “oh wait, dressing up like a 16th century noble is cool, actually.”
2) You have plenty of interests
A lot of people would take one interest of theirs—for some it’s a specific sports team, for others it might be a specific genre of music—and then make it their entire personality.
You don’t do this.
Sure, you might be incredibly invested in your current interests, but you won’t let any notions of “loyalty” keep you from picking up new interests as they come… even if those new interests would seem to “contradict” your old ones.
For example, you might support your local hockey team, but also admire their rivals from the next state over.
You might like classical music, but also world music, rap, and even mainstream pop.
And you might have a special interest in the delicate art of flower arranging, but that doesn’t stop you from tinkering with machines and burning rubber on the racetrack.
For you, life is about experiencing the many things life has to offer, and so when you find something new to appreciate, you will happily jump at it and appreciate the hell out of it.
3) You’re open to new ideas
Predictability in life is good, but there’s such a thing as too much predictability. And the last thing you want is for your life to go stale.
So whether you’re working on a project or you’re planning a holiday with your friends, you always keep yourself open to new things.
When someone recommends a restaurant you don’t know, you would remember it and consider actually going there instead of shrugging them off and going back to your usual haunts.
You want to try something just to know if they’re better. This applies to things in your life big and small. And because of this, you’re unique and you come up with unique ideas and unique experiences.
4) You’re a bit of a nonconformist
When everyone is going left, you stand still and consider if following the crowd is a good idea. And if it’s clear that it’s better to go right, then you go right.
You resist the urge to follow trends, like listening to certain bands or getting a particular hairstyle simply because they’re in “vogue.”
Why?
You’d never follow the herd unless you can see that it makes sense to. You will automatically question when you see trends and wonder if they’re even a good idea—and if they’re not, you go “OMG, why are people so easy to fool?”
You are not pressured to follow anything. In fact, you try your best not to be influenced by the things you see on billboard ads and social media.
To you, conforming is your way to rebel against marketing and consumerism. You’d rather have your own style, your own kind of music, your own way of thinking and seeing the world.
5) You don’t dismiss something because everyone else does
You don’t like it when you see people dismissing something out of hand.
Instead of taking statements like “this movie is the worst” or “our new neighbor is a loser and a bitch” at face value, you instead use them as opportunities to step back and think.
You would ask yourself questions like “why are they saying this?” and try not just to understand their rationale, but to also try to personally verify what people are saying.
This applies to everything—from ideas to TV shows to food.
And because of this, you get to discover more things in life that close-minded people usually wouldn’t.
6) You don’t like something because everyone else does
This one is also related to that nonconformist desire to evaluate things personally and judge them on their own merit, rather than the opinions of others.
People are very easily swayed, and sometimes people will end up “loving” a bad thing simply because everyone else around them likes it.
So when you see almost everyone around you agree on something, you immediately get a bit suspicious and try to understand the reasons why.
Just because the majority agree that something is good or correct doesn’t mean it is.
Take the story of the emperor’s new clothes, for example. Everyone agreed that the emperor was dressed out in fancy wear, even when in reality he was bare as a baby.
7) It’s not hard for you to change your mind
When someone speaks up and tries to tell you that what you’re doing could be bad for you, you take the time to stop and listen.
You don’t just automatically assume they just want to pull you down because they’re “jealous” of you, or that they just want to bring drama into your life.
Instead, you try to listen to them and try to see their point. And if they ever prove themselves right, you have no issues changing your mind.
This applies to everything—from what kind of top you pair with your pants to your personal life.
It’s not a matter of pride for you, and you have no issues “caving in” so long as you can see that you’re changing for the better.
In fact, you don’t even need another person to tell you anything to change your mind. If in your process of doing something you realize some setbacks that you’d rather not deal with, you shrug off and say “Welp, time to let go of this”, then you move on to the next.
8) You try to unlearn the things you’ve been conditioned since childhood
A lot of us are taught some downright outdated and harmful stuff growing up—from how we should think about love to even how we should treat others.
For example, your parents might have taught you that you shouldn’t trust people because most of them just want to use you.
Or perhaps you were told that if a man truly loves a girl, then he will “put a ring on it” and make the first move (hi Beyonce!).
Perhaps you once believed them, but you’ve since begun to question them and whether they actually hold any merit.
Surely not all people are bad, and you do not want to live a lonely life. And surely it’s not that bad if the girl makes the first move, right? Or you don’t even really have to get married.
9) You can see something in different ways
And I don’t just mean that you perceive things differently from other people. More than that, you can also see that things aren’t exactly one-dimensional.
It’s often the case that there’s more than one way to see something, and how every individual person perceives things is informed by their experiences.
So when someone brings up a radically different interpretation of, say, a work of art or a speech, you don’t immediately assume that they’re wrong—because you can see where they’re coming from.
You can see that the world around us is multifaceted. And even then you understand that you might not even see all sides that there are to see.
10) You constantly reinvent yourself
You always keep on evolving and changing, always learning and striving, and because of that you’re unique.
Five years ago, you’re a music teacher. Now, you’re an artist and social worker. Last year, you used to sport baggy pants but now you love wearing dresses.
You’re not scared of changing how you look, how you think, what you’re passionate about because you don’t want to be stuck in the same place. When you’re bored with something, you try something new—plain and simple.
People might even say that you’re just fickle and restless, even when you’re not. You know how to commit to something if you have to, you simply choose not to when you think it’s time to do something else that’s more in line with who you are.
And it’s precisely because of this that you can never be pigeon-holed.
Last words
By living a life genuine to who you are as a person, and by always taking the time to step back and question instead of blindly following the flow, you get to defy people’s attempts to stuff you in boxes.
People might assume things about you and be right half the time, sure. But there is always something about you that will make them go “Oh wow, they did that?!”
If you can relate to everything in this list, you’re definitely a one-of-a-kind person and you should celebrate your uniqueness.
