Why do so many of you want to be different?

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Why, instead, would you not prefer the world to accept you for your unique individuality?

Life is mostly difficult for people with differences to the mainstream because the mainstream make it harder for them. The world needs to learn to cater to different types of people and not keep expecting individuals to fit into the same type of box all the time.

Are there people here who like who they are, even if the world keeps thinking they should be different?

PN When I say who you are I mean who you are, not your circumstances. Hating your circumstances (perhaps your life is not what you desired it to be) and hating yourself are not the same thing.

Ie I sometimes hate that I don't have a loving partner, but at the same time I don't hate myself because I don't have one. I don't really experience self hatred but then I don't have any expectations of what a human should be in terms of individual personality and interests (the only exception being when they cause harm, then I become concerned about the harm they cause) so I don't attach any expectations to hate myself for if I don't live up to them. Ergo, no self hatred for not living up to what I think I should be. I am what I am, that, in many ways, can work for me and I don't really want to change in that way. I may need to learn a few new skills but that is not the same as changing, that is just acquiring new knowledge to enable me to do a few things more effectively. I do, however, hate that I have not found anyone who is as accepting of myself as I am. I had hoped I would, I think I was daydreaming.

Whatever the cause of my differences to the mainstream my brain does actually come with some perks I would not exchange to be like the rest of the world.

An ability to learn at a fast rate, allowing plenty of time for extra curricular study when I was at Uni.
A memory so good that I didn't need to revise for exams and I could still get A grades
A well developed sense of morality
My sensitivities can be a pain but can also make me more perceptive in a number of ways
I notice things and patterns that other people don't
I get to spend many satisfying and wonderful hours learning the most interesting of things
I love to learn
I love to try new things
I like sameness too, I love to repeat the things I love over and over again so repetition is not always torture for me
I may have issues concentrating when I am bored (easily distracted by more interesting things) but I have amazing concentration for things that interest or fascinate me.
I can come up with unusual, novel or unique ways of doing things
I have a lot of physical energy
I look younger than my physical age
I have no fear of failure as to me its a learning curve to be explored. It only invokes my curiosity...why did it fail, what did I do incorrectly? What should have been done differently, how does that work? Why does it work that way? Why didn't it work the way I expected to etc...many hours of happy pondering whilst I figure things out. Failure can sometimes be a wonderful thing (depends on the consequences).
I like taking something I learned from one area, adapt it, and to use it in other areas of my life (crossing over my skills)
I love problem solving..its fun.
I like a challenge.
I have great passion for my hobbies, I fall head over heels in love with them and will happily spend hours of my life pursuing them or practicing, exploring, trying to understand, perfect...create beautiful things, wondering about the true nature of reality (not the reality we are sold by the culture we live in) and so on.

Things don't really stress me out...things nearly ALWAYS have a solution and I will find it eventually, even if I have to use trial and error (hence why a fear of failure would be pointless to me).

Now for the down side:

People...people stress me out...social interaction stresses me out, making small talk bores me, I don't always enjoy the company of others as I'd rather be doing my own thing or pondering my own thoughts instead, I don't have much to say to most people, I don't have much in common with most people so I rarely form connections with them, I struggle with social interaction and the human tendency to place meaning on things that is not actually really there (except in their imagination) and I even struggle with their belief systems.

I don't really understand this whole beating yourself up thing for example.

My brain, on finding something has not worked out (excluding social stuff...social problems bug me more) how I would have liked will go via the following stages:

Disappointment, moment of upset as I did not get the result that was hoped for.
Quickly move on from that to asking myself "why did I not get the result that was hoped for"
This is replaced with curiosity.
This turns into an analysis of the situation/problem/result in order to further develop my understanding
The disappointment is forgotten. A solution is found and/or the experiment is resumed etc.

Other people seem to get side tracked with their self appraisal (I guess I could call it). Why? What purpose does stopping to judge yourself serve? Is it going to help you understand what went wrong or to find a solution? It seems a bizarre route to take that I don't really understand very well. No offense meant, but I can't be bothered with it because it's not a necessary part of the problem solving process.

Socially I still do not resort to beating myself up, but I do stay upset for longer especially as I am often unable to find a solution to my people woes. This is why I do not experience anxiety over things, only in regards to people, their unrealistic expectations and their rather bizarre belief systems that are both illogical and irrational at the same time (no offense meant again...I appreciate you believe your belief systems are some great truth about the Universe as opposed to being some bollocks the culture you were raised in brainwashed you with but I don't see it that way. Sometimes the origins of various cultures and their belief systems can intrigue me, but not right now, right I am still excited over learning to play piano).

Questions are above my ramble.

"Why do so many of you want to be different?"
"Why, instead, would you not prefer the world to accept you for your unique individuality?"

It took me a little to understand what you meant .

About 7 months ago I decided I was going to accept myself, just be who I am on the inside and let the "outside" people figure out for themselves whether they like me or not. Yes I've fished behind the net, where I really liked someone and hoped they would like "the real me", knowing that I could have probably faked my way through a couple months of "friendship", but at least I didn't have to question and change myself to "fake it better" next time.

I now have one really good friend, better than the numerous "best friends" I've had throughout my life and it feels awesome.
So yeah, I'm preferring this life of people accepting me for my "uniqueness". For example when I start discussing the way a question is formulated with a professor, instead of people sighing they understand I'm actually really just trying to figure out what the hell is really meant.

I mean, there's so many "sides" to people that "everyone" does accept and respect/take into consideration, from religion to for example vegans to not hearing/seeing properly, that I never understood why "we" can't be respected in our "quirks"/"special demands".
My experience so far is that we do indeed get respected, as long as it's clear to others that it's our "lifestyle".

I'd rather die than lose my dignity.

Or rather, if I lose my dignity, I'll die for certain.

If I don't, I may still have a chance.

The only way for me to get through life in a crazy world is for me to be myself. I am different from most people because I like to be myself and I want to be myself. I don't feel the need or the pressure to pretend to be like everybody else my age group, in order to be accepted by the majority. A good chunk of the majority population accepts me as I am. I like being different, because I am different. I'd rather stay a masculine 21 year old Mod than be a lovely, proper lady. I have gender dysphoria, so I feel very male on the inside and I express that by dressing like The Kinks did on stage in mid-late 64 with a a frilly shirt and a red jacket with what I have at the moment. I'd rather look like Mick Avory than look like the Britney Spears types. I also don't base my entire existence on looking like a celebrity. I'd rather be dark haired, dark-eyed and healthy than be a buxom blonde. Why 1964? Because I'm different, that's the spirit I'm meant to be and that's what makes me different, and that's okay with me.

I would love to be NT on the outside yet on the inside different. I don't know if that's quote possible, but I am thinking of Richard Feynman as a good model.

Actually, for a long time I just wanted to be "normal." I was tired of being in special ed, being prevented from going to the same school as my sister, I was tired of the singling out and bullying and yelling and screaming and crying, and I wanted to be able to prove myself. Lately, though, as I've hit a bit of a ceiling in my advancement, I've come to accept who I am more and I am rather proud to be autistic and to have done what I've done.

I'm not sure that I fully understand the question.

i never said i wanted to be different, i had just always been different and hated it, i tried to change but ended up shutting down and hating myself, eventually, i gave up. now, i just enjoy myself, if im by myself, im not different. i never asked to be different, i just am, but id rather be different than less.

i really wish people woudn't dwell on difference and then preach that they want to be different. they say " your just a follower/copy cat/ average, theres nothing special about you" and then turn their back and say "i dont like you because your just weird.

why dont people just look at positive qualities in a person instead of something someone is lacking.

I'm not sure I understand the question either.

I did have a friend in an online game I play tell me that I "try too hard to be weird" and had to tell them that I'm not even trying that is just the way I am.

I never had interest in being normal. To me normal seemed boring and about bowing down to peer pressure to fit in. I do what I do and like what I like regardless of whether it's normal or not.

Since several people appear to fall for the same trap as I initially did;
(Although as usual I could be way over thinking it and getting it wrong)

I think he means "different from being different", as in, being "normal" because -right now- you are "different".

I see what I have done with my title, it can be interpreted several ways.

I mean why do so many people with an ASD want to be different from the way they are as in becoming more Neurotypical or more 'normal'...