Ask Lemmy

Child abuse. I thought it was normal to threaten children with violence for noncompliance. I thought it was normal to be afraid to misbehave or be suboptimal in school at the threat of violence.

When I was much younger: that normal people could see much further than me.

One of my oldest memories is going into a McDonald's for the first time with glasses; I stopped and read the entire menu, because I couldn't believe normal people could read it as soon as you walked in. I always had to get up to the counter to make it out.

I got a lot better in school after that!

Struggling not to act on my impulses all the time, doing foolish things before thinking and not being able to go more than a brief period without embarrassing myself. I thought everyone dealt with impulse control issues. Oh hey Adhd, nice to see you.

My family was super meat-centric for all holidays except Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Any meal where it's physically possible to barbecue, we would. And a family barbecue meant hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, pork steaks, and beef steaks -- one of each per person, plus a couple of extras. Sides were German-style slaw and potato salad. Buns were not included, but my grandma would always put a stack of white bread on the table (she was the only person who ever ate it).

When I started dating my husband and took him to a family holiday, he was shocked by the fact that my whole family was eating hamburgers and hot dogs with flatware instead of on buns. And he was actually sad at the lack of side dishes.

When I went to one of his family barbecues, I was sad that there was just one hamburger per person (already on a soggy bun) and a ton of weird casseroles.

Synesthesia. I was about 20 before I learned it has a name and not everyone has strong colour associations for numbers and letters, or sees a visible map of time in their head, or has music take shape. It never occurred to me to question it because it's always been my norm.

I sniff things. I have a habit where if I am given something I sniff it first looking for a scent first. I do it more often with food than anything else, because I have childhood roach trauma and if anybody has had to deal with the german ones they have a specific smell. Clothing, body care products, boxes, tools, leaves, etc. I sniff it first before I do anything with it. I didn't realize it was weird until my roommate asked me why I kept sniffing things he gave me to hold.

I also shake my towel before using it (IYKYK). I'm trying to break myself on this one.

In highschool nobody told me it's not normal to put on Off like body spray before bed.

Anything I am given from my mom or someone I'm not familiar with I leave it out in the sun 100's ft away from the house for multiple days before I bring it it. I have to inspect every bit of it, shake it, turn it over, etc. Apparently that is not normal, according to some of my coworkers.

I have holes in my fingertips that turn into ulcers and then get better, but it cycles. I've been to the doctor multiple times, they are stumped.

I tend to pick at food when I am at someone's house, especially if I'm new or they recently had a pest problem they've let me know about. I'm shut down, I can only drink water or I have to wait it out and then get food outside the home. I feel like a bad house guest but I'm so scared of eating bugs or mouse droppings.

A lot of my abnormalities seem to stem from some sort of trauma response - I know these aren't normal* now *but trying to break away from some of them is incredibly hard. I have just gotten to the point where I don't ask anyone if I can shower before I actually shower in my home(it slips sometimes, I can't help it). As an adult I realize I look like a paranoid ninny and I think my long time best friend just didn't want to cause a breakdown or something when we were still in high school. I know she probably saw and knew, but I'm lucky I have her and her family worked with kids similar to my situation for a long time so they were the least judgmental people I knew during the dark ages. Also life is tons better, I just need to work on my weird habits like sniffing things. That's gonna get me one of these days.