How to Determine if You're a Snail

Okay, it probably goes without saying that if you have to ask this question, you probably are not a snail.  If you are a snail, it is probably painfully obvious to you.  But, for the sake of defining some of our characteristics, let's delve into this a bit more deeply.

First, I have to issue a disclaimer.  I am not a psychologist or a psychiatrist or any other type of medical professional.  I am just a self-defined snail.  Therefore, by default, I will name many of MY characteristics as the common characteristics of all snails.

In searching for a reason for my "differentness", I have done a lot of reading about introverts and highly sensitive people.  I am both of these things, and you may be, also.  As introverts, we have a very rich internal life.  We think deeply about things.  We enjoy solitude - in fact, we have to have some amount of solitude to thrive.  But, we also do need connection with other people.  Having said that, being around others for an extended period of time, or under noisy, excited conditions is quite draining on our energy.  We then need to retreat into solitude to re-energize.  As highly sensitive people, we become over stimulated more readily than our non-sensitive counterparts.  We also tend to notice all types of things that others don't.  We notice the details of things and find them fascinating - and can wander off mentally, contemplating these details, while our non-sensitive, fast-paced colleagues move on to the next item on their agendas.

Here are some characteristics of mine that I didn't necessarily read in any self-help books about introversion or high sensitivity and that I am uniformly assigning to all snails.  Number one feature:  WE ARE SLOW!  There, I said it.  Isn't that hard to admit!?  We move at a physically slower pace.  We make decisions more slowly than others.  We take in and process information more slowly than a lot of people.  It takes longer to "get it" than it does for many.

Here's a litmus test for anyone who wonders if he or she might be a snail:  Do you find yourself CONSTANTLY fighting the clock?  Are you in a war against the passage of time?  If so, you are probably a snail.  I'm sorry.  Life in western society is not easy for snails.  Perhaps Tibet is a better place for us!  Ha ha!  Actually, I'd go crazy without something productive to do, so forget the Tibet idea.  Still, you get it.  Snails have to compete in our society with "FAST".  Faster is better, right?  So, we lose out on the "fast" thing.

But, there are very good reasons for our slowness, and those reasons turn out to be quite valuable.  So, take heart, snails!  We provide something to society that no one else can.  In my next blog, I'll talk about why snails rock!

Until then, snails, keep moving forward!

A Little Bit About Me

Remember the scene in Forrest Gump when Principal Hancock says to Forrest's mother, "Your boy's....different, Miz Gump"?

I first became aware that I was "different" when my mother told me that my third grade teacher said I had a problem with "day dreaming."  I had no idea what she was talking about.  I had a rough understanding of what day dreaming was, but I could not imagine why engaging in that activity would be a problem.  I just thought I was "thinking".  Thinking (one of my favorite things to do), without accompanying action, it turns out, is not valued by our society - and for good reason, I must admit.

Other indications that I differed from my school peers came from my parents' unhappy discoveries that I was always the last girl out of the locker room after track practice and that I was always the last one ready when it was time to go somewhere.  This became such an identifying feature of my being that my family created a jingle, "Who are we waiting on?", which they said every time they were waiting on me.  To get the full effect, you have to say it in a sing-songy voice and glide up the scale from the beginning of the phrase to the highest note on the word "waiting" and then drop down a note on the word "on" and hold that note for just one beat longer than the other words.  That jingle exists to this day - although my family knows they will raise my ire if they use that on me now.

Despite my physical slowness in everyday tasks, I was literally fast when it came to running, and I became a successful athlete in high school track and cross-country.  That athleticism is something I enjoy still today.  And, even though I had to stay up late into the nights to complete my school assignments, I managed to persevere through college and graduate school to earn my PhD in pharmaceutical chemistry.

It wasn't until I hit real-world corporate America, working for a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company, that my snail-like pace became a real liability.  I fight the clock every single day.  But, through thoughtful strategy, focused determination, and faith in God, I am finding ways to succeed.  It is my hope that I can share some of the insights I've gained along the way and help other snails out there find their paths to success.

Keep moving forward, snails!

Happy New Year to All of My Fellow Snails

Hello all of you wonderfully slow-paced people out there.  This is going to be an adventure in embracing our uniqueness in this fast-paced world we try to thrive in.  It has been a dream of mine to connect with you and to help all of us let go of the negative labels we've heard about ourselves over the many years.  Yes, we ARE different, and that's okay!  In fact, that's fabulous!

I'm just getting started in the blogging world, so this will be a work in progress.  In the coming days I will work to customize my blog's look and give you a preview of some of the posts to come.  Actually, forget about that - I'm too excited to wait to give you a preview of blogs to come.  Here are some of my thoughts for topics in upcoming blogs:

• A few things about me
• How to determine if you're a snail (if you need to ask this, you probably aren't!)
• Why it hurts to be a snail
• Why snails rock
• Some techniques I've found to help me manage my time
• Time savers for snails
• How to help others accept and respect your unique pace

Let's see how far we get with those topics and go from there, shall we?

Until then, keep moving forward!