Boxes. Everyone everywhere is always trying to put people in boxes. But what if you don’t fit these boxes? Or what if we don’t want to fit in the boxes they try to put you in?

I remember many years ago a recruiter not knowing what to do with me as I didn’t fit in a clear box. In terms of my career that’s still very much the case now. I’ve got a broad range of experience doing very different jobs. It shows how transferable many skills are. Unlike many people where they clearly fit into one specific job, I’ve always adapted to fit the requirements of a job and I’ve think I’ve benefitted a lot from it. I may not have had a clear job ladder to climb, but I’ve realised I never really want to climb a ladder.

The same can be said for how we behave and act in the world. Women, gay people, the young, the old… Society expects everyone to behave a certain way based on specific characteristics. If you don’t you are considered weird.

I’ve never really fitted neatly in a box. I’ve never been the pretty one, the intelligent one, the troublesome one. I’ve always been a bit of this and a bit of that. Maybe that’s where my love of venn diagrams comes from. I sit in the cross section between different groups. I’ve always been the loner that crosses between groups rather than clearly belonging to any one group.

I may not have always felt this way, but I’m glad I don’t fit the forced boxes of society. I’ve not done live the way we’d meant to – marriage, house, career, children. I’m sure I don’t behave the way a 40 something year old ‘should’. I often dress like a child. I have no intention of following the rules when it comes to the things we should do with our life. I’m sure many people think I’m weird and I’m cool with that.

I loved The Raggy Dolls as a child and I’ll always be happier in that box with the other ‘rejects’ who didn’t conform than forcing myself to fit the moulds society forced upon us. We carve our own way in the world despite things often feeling against us.