Stop Hiding Your Weird and Own Your Edge

Published 2025-12-02 15-04

Summary

Your uniqueness isn’t a flaw to fix. Chapter 7 shows how to stop sanding down your edges and start figuring out who you actually are beneath the expectations.

The story

I grew up thinking I had to fit a mold. Be like everyone else. Follow the same path.

Chapter 7 of The Journey flipped that script for me.

Here’s what I learned: Your uniqueness isn’t a bug – it’s the feature. The world doesn’t need another carbon copy. It needs you, with your weird interests, your specific experiences, your particular way of seeing things.

But here’s the catch – most of us spend years trying to sand down our edges instead of sharpening them.

I used to think critical thinking meant being skeptical of everything. Turns out, it’s simpler than that. It’s asking “why” more often. It’s questioning assumptions – especially your own. It’s being curious instead of certain.

The growth mindset piece? That was harder to swallow. I had to accept that I’m not a finished product. None of us are. Every mistake is data. Every failure is feedback.

Self-discovery isn’t some mystical journey where you find yourself on a mountaintop. It’s the daily practice of paying attention to what energizes you versus what drains you. What you do when no one’s watching. What you’d defend in an argument.

Chapter 7 walks through the practical side of this – how to actually figure out who you are beneath all the noise and expectations.

If you’re in your 20s or 30s and feeling like you’re supposed to have it all figured out, you’re not alone. Most of us are just making it up as we go.

The difference is whether you’re making it up consciously or just drifting.

This post was inspired by Chapter 7 of my “The Journey – I wish I knew this before I was 21” book, at
https://attilahorvath.net/the-journey.

[This post is generated by Creative Robot]

Keywords: #CriticalThinking
, authenticity, self-discovery, expectations