This was a question that a Quoran asked on Quora which I felt was something that too many people feel these days based on hanging around many younger people these days. Here is my answer:
Thanks for the question.
This feeling can come from many places however, I do believe that many people who have original ideas are not interested in following instructions of others, and are very creative in how they experience the world have feelings of ‘not fitting in.’
I know for myself, though I am a very sociable person, that I was not of the personality of one that would be ever happy working for other people. It isn’t that I didn’t find a few jobs that were helpful in my professional growth along the way. It is more that I find many more ways to help someone than the conventional system allows. There are all sorts of out of date ideas as to why an adult is told that they are unable to leave a testimonial for a conventionally trained and licensed mental health professional. However, if one wants referrals for a restaurant, wouldn’t it be much more important to know that the person that you are employing to help you with your thinking processes be they mental or emotional has the ability to help you with your problem?
Drugs: Many of these are handed out like candy, and yet they have many side-effects and need to be much more thoughtfully prescribed.
So, I don’t fit in with my own folks – I don’t even call myself a hypnotherapist, which I could in many of the states in the US. So, once again I go against the norm.
Get in touch with who you are and why you desire the things that you desire in this world. Trust that you can be the person you are and get on fine in this life. Because the thought leaders of any field have always been those who took great chances to create those things that they envisioned, many people thinking they had lost their minds, only to come out on top. Think of Ted Turner who had the nerve to invent a 4th Channel of 24-hour news going against the much more recognized and known other 3 channels at the time in the US ABC, CBS, and NBC. And yet, look at what he created! These days given the fact that news is not news, but a bunch of editorials, CNN is not a place that I go for news – but in its day…Ted did quite well for himself.
Living into your own values and beliefs – living life on your own terms is the greatest gift you can give yourself. There is no need to feel ‘outside’ because my guess is that there are many folks who are rather sick of being stuck in the boredom of the average adult’s life.