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The Chameleon
Jan. 26th, 2013 08:54 am"I could take part in the world as an observer. I was an avid observer. I was enthralled with the nuances of people’s actions. In fact, I often found it desirable to become the other person. Not that I consciously set out to do that, rather it came as something I simply did. As if I had no choice in the matter. My mother tells me I was very good at capturing the essence and persona of people. At times I literally copied someone’s looks and their actions. I was uncanny in my ability to copy accents, vocal inflections, facial expressions, hand movements, gaits and tiny gestures. It was as if I became the person I was emulating (p.22)."
- Liane Holliday-Willey, Pretending to be Normal
I used to think of myself as a social chameleon when I was growing up. It was the only way I could possibly explain how I was able to get along with everyone in every social situation and yet still never fit in completely with any given social group. I always felt like an outsider, no matter how many people of that social group I could be friends with on a one-on-one basis.
"The fun came from setting up and arranging things. Maybe this desire to organise things rather than play with things, is the reason I never had a great interest in my peers. They always wanted to use the things I had so carefully arranged. They would want to rearrange and redo. They did not let me control the environment."
I can totally relate to this. I had a Barbie doll McDonald's play set that I spent so much time getting out and setting up and then putting back away, just as I do with my jigsaw puzzles. I don't recall ever once getting the Barbie doll out and having her "make" hamburgers in the McDonald's. I never associated that playset with the dolls.
- Liane Holliday-Willey, Pretending to be Normal
I used to think of myself as a social chameleon when I was growing up. It was the only way I could possibly explain how I was able to get along with everyone in every social situation and yet still never fit in completely with any given social group. I always felt like an outsider, no matter how many people of that social group I could be friends with on a one-on-one basis.
"The fun came from setting up and arranging things. Maybe this desire to organise things rather than play with things, is the reason I never had a great interest in my peers. They always wanted to use the things I had so carefully arranged. They would want to rearrange and redo. They did not let me control the environment."
I can totally relate to this. I had a Barbie doll McDonald's play set that I spent so much time getting out and setting up and then putting back away, just as I do with my jigsaw puzzles. I don't recall ever once getting the Barbie doll out and having her "make" hamburgers in the McDonald's. I never associated that playset with the dolls.
