28. How to embrace your giftedness as an adult. Meet Natasa Heydra
Natasa Heydra loves working within different areas of art, culture and design. She is a textile artist, teaches Visual Arts at the Kulturskolen in Viborg & curates and organises exhibitions, publications and art-projects. She has always been fascinated by cultural expressions of identity, like fashion, language, behaviour, music and art. The signs, the codes to help you uncover the multiplicity of identities in our society. Where does one end and starts another? The periphery is where the most interesting forms & stories reveal themselves. It is the edge between belonging and being an outcast. She is drawn to these odd-ones-out in society: the subcultures, the underground, the underdogs. These groups are often the most outspoken in their expression of who they are or want to be. "It took a move away from Holland to Denmark to make the link between my fascination with the odds one out and my own feelings of not belonging. From city girl to country girl, from a successful career to starting up from scratch at 45+...'who am i now?' I felt lost. While trying to get a grip on my new environment i started to see how much of my life i have been adapting to my surroundings as a strategy to fit in. That i often follow a self-created expectation of what i believe is expected of me. And now actually being the odd-one-out, the immigrant, it made me realise that the lost, sad and unsatisfied feeling i had carried with me my whole life, came from doing exactly that...adapting and hiding my thoughts, intensities and true self. Exploring and embracing being a gifted adult, ignites listening and looking at myself with clarity, acceptance and love. It is like finding a sense of belonging in myself, that i am 'already' forever grateful for." - Natasa Heydra
TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE:
Giftedness is not only about high intellectual intelligence, it is more about how your brain works in a different way from the majority of people.
Being gifted can be lonely and be accomplished by feelings anxiety and depression.
There is this feeling of something is missing.
Finding out about giftedness as an adult, gives a lot of answers to the lifelong feeling of being lost and lonely and the feeling of extreme stress and anxiety.
Being mirrored by others is important for wellbeing.
Shed your preconceived thoughts of what giftedness is. Giftedness is so much more than what we know from the stereotypes.
Knowing about your own giftedness and neurodivergence calms you down!
When you don’t realise how your brain works differently, you get hurt by people because there are misunderstandings.
As unidentified gifted people, we are not used to fitting into a box.
We need to stop feeling ashamed of who we are.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Natasa Heydra on Instagram @hey_the_thread and website ungirly.com
Book The Gifted Adult by Mary-Elaine Jacobsen
The podcast episode with Pascale Coutanceau