What If Your Quirks Reveal Your Superpowers?

by Rochelle Melander

Clarissa Pinkola Estes has something important to say.

Did you know … that eccentricity is the first sign of giftedness?

What if the thing that people criticize you for, the thing people find irritating about you, is also your biggest gift, your superpower?

Author and Jungian psychoanalyst Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes says that we can find our giftedness inside our eccentricities. Often people criticize us for the very thing that makes us unique and exceptional. She encourages people to list everything they’ve been ridiculed or criticized for—and then look for the gift hiding under the criticisms.

When I did the exercise, I remembered a graduate school colleague telling me, “It’s not that you lack intelligence. It’s just that you’re not serious enough.”

Perhaps that classmate was offering constructive criticism, but now I hear it as a sign: You are playful. You are funny. Keep that at the heart of your work. When I’m stuck with writing, I can always write forward by using my secret superpower: my sense of humor.

I see this all the time with my clients who are neurodivergent. Their teachers, bosses, and sometimes even their parents criticize them for certain behaviors. For example, being hyperfocused on a particular subject or problem can be frustrating for you and others. But it also allows you to understand, solve, and write about complex problems.

Take a second look at the criticisms you have received. Make a list of those eccentricities that your friends and family complain about. Then dig a bit deeper to find your genius or secret superpower—lurking inside those eccentricities. Once you know your secret superpowers, you can use them to succeed!

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