The other day Gina found an article about a group of people who live outside the typical personality spectrum. We are all familiar with Introverts and Extroverts and typically view them as opposites of each other.
Psychiatrist Dr. Rami Kaminski has identified a third personality style that doesn’t quite fit with the other two – he calls these people Otroverts. This concept fascinated me and the traits outlined were pretty spot on in describing me.
Otrovert
[noun, adjective ot-truh-vert; verb ot-truh-vert]
Definition:
An “otrovert” embodies the personality trait of “otherness” remaining an eternal outsider amidst humanity’s shift from solitude to social connection through language. Unlike relational disorders, otroverts are empathetic and friendly, yet struggle to truly belong in social groups, despite no apparent behavioral distinctions from well-adjusted individuals.
I spent some time today watching some video clips of Dr. Kaminski over on Instagram and looking at the web site for the The Otherness Institute, an organization he founded to create community for otroverts and to provide resources and empower otroverts to view their otherness as a strength.
It is a bit ironic that I immediately latched on to the idea of the concept of otherness and identified myself in the traits listed – the main one being that otroverts have a sense of non-belonging to any particular group.
But really, reading about the common traits of an otrovert and the feeling of being recognized was pretty powerful. I have always felt out of place in the world in so many ways. Family, school, peer groups, trends, parties, and such in a way that seemed introverted, and yet there was always a disconnect of sorts.
Otrovert and otherness fits so much better. There’s a lot to it and I don’t yet feel like I can do justice to really explain it but if you are really interested in learning more I suggest The Otherness Institute and Dr. Kaminski’s Instagram.
His book – The Gift Of Not Belonging: How Outsiders Thrive In A World Of Joiners sounds fascinating, I didn’t see it available through our e-library but I will check again tomorrow.
There is also an online test that I took and this particular explanation seems quite fitting to explain my interest in this, my desire to learn and understand it more deeply and to really take some time to process it in terms of all that I know about myself:
You are the ultimate decision maker of your own life
Being the ultimate authority of one’s life, you need to be vigilant about your perceived reality. Communal perception, the kind of reality check, which connects disparate consciousnesses, does not work for you.
You must sift through the data input from your environment and decide what makes sense to you. Invariably this mechanism becomes dominant in your everyday encounter with the rest. Every piece of information must pass the sensical/nonsensical filter in your mind. What is considered common sense may not work for you. What seems obvious to the rest may not seem obvious to you and vice versa. You need more time than the average person to digest information, as it must pass by your inner, individual, reality checker.
It’s just fascinating and it brings me joy to think about this potential missing piece of the puzzle that is me and imaging what might be possible if it fits somewhere.
Your thoughts?