A Zebra Among Horses

I want to talk about what it's like to be a zebra among horses.

You're friends with everyone; you're friends with no one. You outperform the people in the things you're good at, while feeling nowhere near good enough at the things you should be good at. You're funny, but... awkward funny (still a W).

You don't understand why you feel things so deeply, why injustice keeps you awake at night. You're always the person who has to speak up when something is wrong, even when you know that doing so puts you in the line of fire.

A zebra among horses thinks differently. It feels differently. It experiences the world differently.

It might still run with them, befriend them, work for them... but it is always different. That's what it's like not knowing you are neurodivergent in a world of neurotypical.

It is profound when you come to know that you are a zebra, not a broken horse. At that moment, there is clarity.

What does it mean to be neurodivergent in a world not built for us?

For me, it sometimes means:

• Struggling with executive function

• Being clumsy and losing things

• Rejection sensitivity dysphoria

• And others.
  

It also means:

• Out-of-the-box thinking and problem solving

• Being the class clown

• A deep sense of empathy & intuition

• Polyphonic hearing and musicality

• The ability to read a room

• And others.
  

When you find out you're a zebra, you can find your strengths; the ones that make you different, and use them to your advantage.

Are you deeply creative and a non-linear, visual thinker? Design things. Are you highly detailed and organized? Project manage stuff. Are you someone who dreams and leaps in and doesn't take no for an answer because you're stubborn as hell? Create something. Build a business. Open Iron & Ember (LOL).

Find what it is that you're good at. Even if you think it's weird. I never thought that I'd be talking about neurodiversity for a living, but here we are. Find that thing, and specialize in that thing. Hone your craft and lean into the quirks that make you, you. It sounds cliché, but being your authentic self means bringing things to the table that others can't.

So, what I'm getting at is...

Run, brilliant zebra, run!

Alex Knight

President & Neurodiversity Specialist

Iron & Ember Consulting Written without AI