What if I told you that all the weird things about yourself, all those quirky little
personality traits that you have are your superpowers.
In today's episodes, I'm talking about how you can let your freak flag fly and embrace
your quirks as your superpowers.
Let's get into it.
You're listening to the Soul Aligned Self-Care Podcast.
I'm your host Tina Stinson and I had a stroke at the age of 39 from stress and burnout
that shook my world.
Now I'm laying it all out.
The deep-level self-care practices and mindset shifts that I needed that kept me healthy,
balanced, and thriving.
Join me in this intimate space as we explore healing, resilience, and a soul's journey to alignment.
This is where real conversations about deep-level self-care happen.
Let's get into it.
Hello, guys.
Welcome back to the Soul Aligned Self-Care Podcast.
Today we are talking about embracing your quirks as your superpowers.
One of the things I love about this title and maybe some of you already know this.
Maybe you're like me.
But the title "Let Your Freak Flag Fly" is actually a song from Shrek, the movie.
And I always, this song is almost like tattooed onto my brain because when my kids were little,
we always had what I call car concerts.
We spent a lot of time in the car.
Everybody had three kids.
They played sports, some of them were in musical theater.
We did all kinds of stuff.
We were driving all the time.
And also, any time I visited my family, that was two and a half hours away, we drove there
too.
And so we spent a lot of time in the car and we had what I call car concerts.
And that's blasting music, singing at the top of your lungs.
And I always embraced all the music that my kids listened to.
And all of the songs, you know, once upon a time when they were little, we shared the same
apple account, right?
And before there was like those services where you just get all the songs for a certain
amount of money a month, we were purchasing individual songs.
So we have like this library of all these songs, which is like the history of my family,
me and my family.
And all those songs are still on my apple account.
So when I bring up all the songs that I have on my phone or whatever, wherever I'm listening
to it, like it's a,
it's a very diverse cornucopia of every different genre that you could possibly make up in your
head.
And one of those on genres is also not just movie soundtracks, but, you know, plays, so
like musical theater.
And Shrek was also a play.
But the song, "Let Your Freak Flag Fly" is something that was played often in my car.
And out of all my children, I think my son and raised Shrek the most, as a matter of fact,
as an adult, I also share a voodoo account with them, which is like movies for all those people
that don't know what voodoo is.
And he brought the whole series of all the Shrek movies.
So anytime I want to re-experience Shrek, I could do it at any time, right?
And I love this, right?
I love those times with my kids.
And by the way, all my kids sing beautifully, like really good.
I'm not just saying that because I'm their mom.
And one of my children, both of my two youngest were in musical theater from when they were very
little, but my oldest one, too, college for that.
And I mean, my oldest of the youngest.
So actually, it's my youngest child.
I know it sounds confusing.
But my oldest child also wrote music, plays the guitar, sings beautifully.
They all sing really good.
And my son, my son right now, his favorite thing to do is to go to karaoke.
So anytime I go into New York City, we have to go to karaoke.
It's just a part of our plans.
At least one night, we're going to karaoke and we're singing our brains out.
Like we always did throughout their childhood.
And now into adulthood, living our dreams to the karaoke bar.
And so anyway, this is just, you know, I have everything on my phone from like gangster rap,
country music, bluegrass, like I said, musical theater.
And those are some of my favorite songs.
I love having the whole play of the musical theater on my phone because I could drive for
two hours and just listen to the whole story, you know, told out through song.
I mean, what's better than that?
And so, but what I really love about all my kids, you know, this podcast isn't about
track or music for that matter.
But what it's about is how weird my kids are.
They're all super, super weird.
But my kids are also all super, super amazing.
And yes, all right, I'm their mom.
My kids always say, well, you have to say that.
You're my mom, right?
But they really are amazing humans.
And I don't know if it's generational or what, but when I was their age, I was very insecure
and I was afraid to be myself.
So I constantly hid myself from people and tried to morph into whatever I thought would
be acceptable, you know what I mean?
And so, the music on my phone or my Apple account or whatever, it's just, it's just an example
of their differences and, you know, how they're not afraid to embrace everything about
themselves, including their taste-free music and step into that version of themselves
100%.
And while I love the profound effect that music has on our lives and the amazing healing
benefits that it brings us and how it can take me back into a period of time in my life,
I think music does that for all of us.
Like you listen to a song, I think that's why I like 70's music so much.
When I listen to 70's music, it reminds me of when I was like, you know, 9, 10 years old.
And I think about, it just brings me back to like a really, must have been a really good time
in my life because it's like comfort to me.
And I know all of the songs, my parents, my dad listened to like, you know, John Denver and
Van Morrison and my mom listened to like Barbara Streisand and Neil Diamond and among
many, many, many other artists, just like so much exposure, just so many different types
of music.
But as I said, this isn't about music, but it is about stepping into that person that you
are, right?
It's about, I look at my kids and I love how they're just like unapologetically themselves.
They're all so different, so, so, they couldn't be more different from each other.
Yet we obviously have commonalities because we're a family, but they're so different from
one another.
But it's almost like there's no possible way for them not to be themselves.
And I love this about, I just love this about them and I couldn't be more proud of them.
You know what I mean?
So if you think about it, the odds of us being born into this world and living in this
time are amazing, right?
The odds are amazing.
So we can come to the conclusion and come to the agreement that we're just meant to be
here at this time.
But an important part of that that a lot of people forget, including myself, is that that
part of being here is you showing up authentically as your weird self, right?
You're not supposed to show up as someone else because nobody else is like you.
Absolutely.
Everybody's so different, right?
We have all these different traits, all these different weirdnesses, all these different
quirks.
And you were born during this time to be 100% you and you fit into that world this way, right?
This is who you are.
And so I would say that that's your purpose for being here to show up as you 100% all the
time.
And then when we do this, when we show up 100% as ourselves, we end up being around all
the people that were meant to be around.
All the people that are meant to be in our lives kind of are attracted to us when we show
up as ourselves.
You know, that they're the same type of weird as we are.
And you know what I'm talking about, because I think most of us have friends that we can
be 100% ourselves around, that we don't filter ourselves at all around and how freaking
good does it feel to be around that person, right?
Also we end up when we show up as ourselves 100%, we end up doing the things that were
meant to be doing in the world, right?
We're not pretending to be anything.
And so we're falling into our purpose.
You know, we progress forward and expand and learn all the right things because we're
being true to ourselves and we're doing, you know, what we're supposed to be doing in
the world.
And that is all that is is just stepping into 100% you.
And we are, you know, that just makes us and puts us in the right place at the right time.
So if you're feeling lost, right, or if you're feeling stuck, I believe that this has a lot
to do with us not being our true selves.
We're not being honest in the way that we show up in the world.
Now that sounds like accusatory almost and I want to make it really clear that I'm not trying
to shame anyone or accuse anyone of, you know, lying or being dishonest because we all do
this at some time in our lives or some people do it their whole entire lives because it's
so hard to put yourself out there as yourself.
But the reason that is is it's a basic human need to be accepted.
And one of our biggest fears as humans is not to be connected with, you know, that so-called
tribe, you know, society or to be ostracized by society, right?
These fears are real, right?
And another reason why it's hard for us to show up is because from the time we are born,
we're told to be quiet.
We're told to color inside the lines, right?
And that's a metaphor, but we really are.
Like that is such a strong metaphor in my mind because as children, like when we're coloring,
I can't tell you, like I remember coloring in a color book.
So I must have been like, what, five, four, I don't know, young.
And being judged because I didn't color all the right colors inside the lines or I went
over the line or it looked messy, right?
And so I think this is the perfect metaphor of how we're trained to live our lives.
Like, you know, and, you know, me probably guilty of this with my own kids, right?
You know, we're told to follow all the rules.
We're told to not go against the grain.
I mean, in school, we're not even allowed to go to the bathroom.
We have to ask first, right?
If we get, if we're talking, we get in trouble, right?
We're told to go with the flow or this will happen.
You'll be punished, right?
So, and when you get punished, a lot of times you get embarrassed, like if you're in school,
you get yelled at.
Right?
So from a very young age, we're told to conform and just like be what they want us to be
whoever they is, right?
It's a bunch of BS, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Like I just, obviously, know better now, but it took me a while to catch on to this.
And that's why I say, like, I don't know why my kids are the way they are because I wasn't
like this.
Yes, I think I was a good mom, but at the same time, I think that I always give my kids credit
for who they are because they are who they are because of everything they did in their
lives.
It really has nothing to do with my parenting, their personality, I believe, was ingrained
in them.
They're just embracing it 100%.
And maybe it is a general racial thing where we were told more to conform and maybe that
was loosened a little bit while they were growing up.
I'm not really sure what the difference is, but my freaking kids are amazing.
They like 100% embrace their weirdness, right?
And I, and I love them so much for it.
I can't tell you how much I love them.
And I love when I see this in people.
And this is why I'm so, I said it already, I'm just so impressed with them.
And it's always good to see that your kids are doing better and they're knowing better
than you did when you were their age.
This is what we all want for our kids, right?
We all want them to do better.
So today, I just want to share a few questions that you could ask yourself to see if you're
showing up as you, because you might be saying right now, well, I think I, I think I show
up as myself, but there's like, I said, we are so like programmed, right?
So I want to just like try to like snap you out of that program for a second and ask
you a few questions.
And, and, you know, I want you to like see what your answers are, see if you're showing
up as yourself.
And then I want to encourage you to have the courage to start showing up as you, all of
you, the quirky you, the little bits of you that you never show anyone and shift your mindset
to knowing that these will be your superpowers.
These are going to be the things that transform you.
These are going to be the things that align you with your purpose, that align you with your
happiness, that align you with your authenticity.
That, I know that word is overused, like to death, like we're sick of hearing about how
authentic we have to be, but I think the reason why it's being overused right now is because
this is what people want.
They want to see the real side of you and they want to see the real side of themselves.
And I believe that's why this is such an overused, over-talked about topic, right?
These superpowers that you have, they help you get on stock.
They help you surround yourself with the like-minded souls that you're meant to be around.
They help you lower your stress and anxiety levels because let's face it, it's so much easier
to be yourself all the time than to try to pretend to be something else.
And then remember who you're pretending to be around which person you're pretending
to be, like you might pretend to be a certain way around Susie because Susie doesn't like
anybody that's too loud and like, and then when you're around Bob, you, you pretend to
be this way because Bob doesn't like somebody who's too serious.
I don't know, I'm just making shit up as I talk, but you know what I'm saying?
So like to remember all that, that's, you know, that's a lot of work.
So that's how you lower your stress and anxiety levels, right?
It's easier to be yourself all the time.
It's less work to be honest with yourself and others.
And when you're in alignment with who you truly are, your life flows, you flow, you shine.
Okay?
So let's get down to the nitty-gritty.
I want to share these questions with you.
And so get a pen and paper or listen to this.
Again, maybe I'll put the questions in the show notes for you so you don't have to write
this down.
That's what I'll do.
Okay?
And as do you find yourself adjusting how you act around certain people so that you'll
be more accepted and maybe not upset someone, right?
So like, you know, a big one nowadays is political views.
Like we all like censor ourselves because you know, like first of all, we don't even want
to talk about politics.
We're so sick of politics.
I don't know about you, but I wish politics didn't even exist anymore.
I like, I just, I don't even want to talk about it anymore.
And I'm so done.
Like I think my political party is human.
I think that's what I'm going to say from now on.
I support humans.
That's my, which is no politician, right?
There's no human politicians.
Maybe a few.
I don't know.
All right?
So who like, think about it.
Think about all the people in your life and then ask yourself the question, am I adjusting
how I act around this person so that I'll be more accepted by them, more loved by them?
Am I so afraid of losing them that I'm just going to adjust myself to be around
them in a certain way so that I don't upset them or they don't have some kind of judgment
of me?
All right?
So that's the first question, right?
So does that ring a bell to you?
The second one is, do you soften, adjust or mute your personality around certain people?
Because you know they don't agree with you or you're afraid how they'll judge or think
of you if you show up fully.
These are basically the same questions, just, you know, worded a different way.
And the reason why I did that is because I really want you to think about it.
I'm going to repeat that second question, all right?
Do you soften, adjust or mute your personality?
So maybe you're loud, you know, and you laugh a lot and you're funny and around certain people,
they don't like that.
Maybe your mom doesn't like that.
Do you do that?
Do you actually soften or mute the beautiful person that you are in order to like make
sure somebody agrees with you or you might be afraid of how they'll judge you or think
about you, right?
If you don't, like if you show up fully.
So now I want you to think about that.
Think about all the people in your life.
Do you mute yourself a little bit?
I still do this, okay?
I don't think anybody, I don't, maybe I'm wrong, maybe some people are, I do know people
that are 100% themselves.
And sometimes that actually makes me uncomfortable and then I think, well, that's my problem.
Not theirs.
But they're just showing up authentically.
So if somebody makes me uncomfortable, that's, that's my problem.
That's me, that's something I have to deal with, right?
And that's the way you should think of yourself.
Like if someone has a problem with you, that's their problem, okay?
As long as you're being kind, I'm not saying be obnoxious.
I'm saying, because as long as you're kind, you're just being yourself, right?
So think about all the people in your life.
Think about if you adjust yourself in any way to be around these people.
Now, if they're, you know, if you can come up with a few people in your life that are really
important to you and you like, oh my god, yeah, I actually do do that.
Then maybe make the agreement with yourself, decide right now, right?
Because it's in your best interest to show up as yourself in this lifetime because that's
what you're meant to do.
That's who you're meant to be.
To start, you know, sharing these small parts of you, these quirky parts, these weird
parts, you know?
And that's all relative, weird, quirky.
That's just a judgment call by every single person.
What one person thinks is weird and quirky, another person doesn't.
And that's why when you act like yourself, whether you think it's weird or quirky or whatever
you think it is, you're going to attract the right people into your life because they're
going to have the same amount of weird and the same amount of quirkyness as you.
And it's just going to line up, right?
So maybe start like showing up authentically with these people.
Now I might tell you, like two things are going to happen.
Two, one of two things will happen.
The first thing that might happen is you might be super pleasantly surprised.
Maybe this person was muting themselves or softening their personality around you because
they thought you wouldn't like them for the same amount of weirdness and quirkiness, right?
A lot of times, a lot of places I see this is in spirituality.
So if you're like super woo-woo, like on your own, like in your own head, you're like
so into astrology, you're into crystals, you're into all of the woo-woo things, right?
You love all of it, but you don't show up this way with all of your friends because some
of your friends seem so like maybe, you know, not into that.
And then one day you just decide to start talking about it and then your friend, all of
a sudden, is like, "Oh my God, I'm so into that.
I love this and this."
And then you start sharing things.
And what happens then is you've deepened the relationship.
You've strengthened the connection, okay?
You've made that relationship stronger.
And then the other thing that might happen is that this person might not like your weirdness
or your quirkiness, it might not be aligned with them.
And that's fine, right?
If they don't welcome the true you, then maybe they weren't even meant to be in your life.
They're not meant to be on your path.
You're in the wrong path because you were, you were filtering yourself, right?
So you're going to kind of like shift timelines.
You're on the wrong timeline.
That's it, you're on the wrong timeline.
And so by showing up authentically as yourself, you're going to shift your path or shift
your timeline.
And that person might slowly fade out, but I'm telling you, you're not going to miss it
because there's going to be so many aligned people coming in, so many more aligned people.
And if this is the things that you truly enjoy and your weirdness and your quirkiness
and all the hobbies and the personality traits that you're showing up as and the people
that are coming into your life share similar things with you, you're going to be, you're
going to feel so much more inflow.
So I don't know about you, but I want people in my life who truly love and accept me exactly
as I am.
And that includes myself.
So in order to step into your weirdness, let your freak flag fly, as I said earlier, you
need to totally accept all parts of yourself too.
That's probably a whole nother podcast, I guess, but that's a big part of it.
You have to be okay with it.
And I don't see why you wouldn't be okay with all of these things because they are your superpowers.
So along with you contemplating the questions that I asked you above, I want you to make
a list of some of the weird, quirky things that you have that you don't always share with
others in your life.
That might be that spirituality thing, that little piece of woo-woo in your life, right?
And then I'll ask you the question.
How would it feel to always show up as yourself?
How would that feel to you?
How would your life change for the better if you just did this?
How much easier would it be?
Like I said, it reduces stress and anxiety.
So I'm just going to add the last step.
So ask yourself those questions.
Then make the list of all your weird traits that you might not be showing up into.
You might not be stepping into.
They may even be talent.
And like I said, they're your superpowers.
The last step is exactly the title of this podcast.
And that is to let your freak flag fly, put on your cape and let all the world see your
superpowers.
Let everybody see them.
Share them with the world.
That's what you're meant to do.
That's why you're here.
That's why you were born in this time period and that's why you are who you are.
You're meant to be in this world exactly as you are.
So I encourage you to do that this week.
I want to send lots of love and care to you.
And also I want to remind you guys that did you know that we have a community for the
Soul Alliance Self-Care podcast.
And we take part in all kinds of fun self-care and self-love practices and empowerment and
mindset practices so that you could reduce stress and anxiety and live more into your
purpose, more into your flow.
And I'll put a link in the show notes.
It's called the Soul Alliance Self-Care Insiders.
I would love to hang out with you over there.
I would love for you to be a part of that group in that community.
So once again let your freak flag fly.
I can't say that.
I dare you guys to try to say that three times fast.
Let your freak flag fly.
Let your freak flag fly.
Let your freak flag fly.
Okay.
I love you guys.
