Embrace Your Inner Weirdo

Embrace Your Inner Weirdo: The Freedom of Authentic Living (Living Lucky® Podcast)

What happens when you finally give yourself permission to be completely, unapologetically you? ✨ In this wonderfully weird Living Lucky® Podcast episode, Jason and Jana Banana dive deep into why embracing your authentic self—quirks, eccentricities, and all—is the most powerful choice you can make.

This is a self-help and personal development guide to breaking free from the fear of judgment and unlocking a life of magic and synchronicity. Get ready for these "nuggets of wisdom":

• The "Wonderful Weirdo" Conflict: Unpack the psychological tension that holds so many of us back—the dual fear of standing out too much and blending in too much.
• Tall Poppy Syndrome Explained: Learn why the fear of being "different" is a rational response to social pressure, and why you must rise above it to live your purpose.
• The Invisible Box: Discover the truth about the "box" you've been conditioned to fit into. It's not real; it's a social construction designed to keep you from changing the world.
• Your Unique "Flavor": We challenge the homogenization of modern society, reminding you that your uniqueness is your greatest gift and your most valuable contribution to the world.
• Unleashing the Magic: Hear how stepping into your authentic self creates a flow of synchronicity, attracting the right people and opportunities into your life in ways that feel like pure magic.

Are you ready to stop hiding and start thriving? We challenge you to celebrate National Wonderful Weirdo Day (or any day!) by doing something outside your comfort zone that you've always secretly wanted to do. The world needs your unique flavor.

• How to embrace your authentic self.
• The psychology of being different.
• What is Tall Poppy Syndrome?
• Overcoming fear of judgment.
• How to be yourself and not care what others think.
• The importance of being unique.
• How to break free from societal expectations.
• Living a fulfilled life.
• Personal growth and authenticity.
• "What is National Wonderful Weirdo Day?"
• "What is Tall Poppy Syndrome?" 
• How can I be more authentic? Why is authenticity important? What are some ways to embrace your uniqueness? How do I deal with the fear of standing out? How does authenticity lead to a better life?

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The 4 pillars of Living Lucky
Believe in yourself
Believe in the people around you
Believe in your circumstances and
Believe that God is working through you, for you, and always conspiring in your favor.

*Previously Recorded

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro: Celebrating National Weirdo Day
• 1:55 Childhood Reflections on Being Different
• 5:10 Fear of Standing Out vs. Mediocrity
• 9:30 Tall Poppy Syndrome: Why Different Scares
• 11:30 Your Authentic Self Unleashes Magic
• 15:30 Challenge: Step Outside Your Box

Transcript

Jana Shelfer: 0:00

Are you ready to create a life you crave? Let's spin that doom loop of negativity into an upward success cycle and start Living Lucky®.

Jason Shelfer: 0:14

Good morning.

Jana Shelfer: 0:15

I'm Jana, I'm Jason and we are Living Lucky®. You are too Happy, national.

Jana Shelfer: 0:22

Wonderful Weirdo.

Jason Shelfer: 0:23

Day. I'm a weirdo. I'm a wonderful weirdo. I'm a weirdo, you are too.

Jana Shelfer: 0:30

Just so you know. We did not practice that If you couldn't tell.

Jason Shelfer: 0:34

It just happens, sometimes Today, sometimes my weird comes out.

Jana Shelfer: 0:40

It's National Weirdo Day and first of all I find it kind of crazy that we have to celebrate this day.

Jason Shelfer: 0:49

Well, I think sometimes we need to be reminded that it's okay to be you Hold on.

Jana Shelfer: 0:55

You have a nose hair. I'm going to pull it Ready.

Jason Shelfer: 0:58

Oh, it's on the outside, ah I think I got it yeah. Because that is a slippery son of a gun.

Jana Shelfer: 1:03

You've been trying to get it I have for days. For days I thought maybe you were just trying to beat. No, we were out skiing with everybody.

Jason Shelfer: 1:11

Yesterday or Saturday, yes, and so yesterday was Sunday, Saturday. We were out there skiing and I could see it flapping in the wind. I was like what the hell is that? I keep seeing a sparkle and I was like what the hell is that I?

Jana Shelfer: 1:26

keep seeing a sparkle and I was like it's my nose hair, it is, it's kind of sparkly gray.

Jason Shelfer: 1:29

If you're out there listening right now and you've ever had one of those hairs that just comes out on the side of your nose just on a whim, and you'll see it right before you walk into a meeting, right before you meet with a client, and you're like, oh crap.

Jana Shelfer: 1:43

There it is.

Jana Shelfer: 1:44

And it kind of slips through your finger. And how did I miss it?

Jason Shelfer: 1:45

Because it's like three inches long you got to have.

Jana Shelfer: 1:47

It's not really three inches long. You got to have fingernails.

Jason Shelfer: 1:50

Yeah, but it's like the length of a long eyelash and it's very fine. I thought it's one of those that hides in the sunlight.

Jana Shelfer: 1:57

You should put mascara on it and just claim it.

Jana Shelfer: 2:01

Define it.

Jana Shelfer: 2:02

Do a Marilyn Monroe thing where you actually just accentuate.

Jason Shelfer: 2:06

Marilyn Monroe, cindy Crawford, you just put a little dot on it, so it's a little darker than it would be.

Jana Shelfer: 2:12

Put some what is it called Mascara? That would make you weird and wonderful.

Jason Shelfer: 2:16

Yes, I'm going to start claiming that nose hair.

Jana Shelfer: 2:20

Which is what we're talking about today. I'm not sure why, but there is a fear of being and we use the word weird today because that's what the national holiday is celebrating. However, I think there's a fear of just being different, being outside the norm or standing out from the crowd.

Jason Shelfer: 2:43

Right.

Jana Shelfer: 2:44

Yes, Am I right or am I right yeah?

Jason Shelfer: 2:46

you are right, and I think that the nose hair thing is not what I want to be, not the authenticity that I'm looking for. Oh, okay, but I do. There are things in me that where I'm like if I'm hiding that from myself, like hiding the person that I want to be, I will start not liking myself. But I'm not going to. I'm not sure what you're trying to say. There are times where I have suppressed who I am.

Jason Shelfer: 3:13

Maybe, who you really want to be. So I remember growing up and there was a friend of mine I'm going to say his name, lance, okay, and people would make fun of him for him being authentic, like he loved to draw. He was kind and people weren't comfortable with him being kind or him like being in his artistic mode, and there were times where I would want to be with the quote unquote, cool people, Okay, and I hated myself for that.

Jason Shelfer: 3:47

Oh interesting and so, like, quietly, I would want to be with Lance. I would want to be around Lance, because I loved being artistic, I loved being kind, like I was a kind person, you are a kind person, I am a kind person. And then I was like, but I don't want people to be unkind to me, does that make sense?

Jana Shelfer: 4:10

So would people make fun of him, would people chastise?

Jason Shelfer: 4:13

him. It was just like he wouldn't get included sometimes.

Jana Shelfer: 4:17

Okay, because he was different.

Jason Shelfer: 4:18

Because he was different but he was so talented, so talented, so smart, all these things like there were. There were multiple people that I ran into through, like in this little area of middle it was middle school ish like where people are finding those little clicks.

Jana Shelfer: 4:33

Yes.

Jason Shelfer: 4:34

And I recognize this, and it was that point where I was like OK, well, who am I going to be? And I think that's where I started kind of breaking out and becoming just a different, like I was. I started a very different version of myself and I started kind of lashing out like being I got the nickname, I think wild man.

Jana Shelfer: 5:01

Really yeah, because it was like Okay, you've told me you were always like oh, that was my nickname in college, that was my nickname in high school.

Jason Shelfer: 5:08

You've never actually told me, there was like wild man and shell, like wild man, shelfer.

Jana Shelfer: 5:15

It's kind of like a wild hare that grows out of your nose Right because I started kind of acting out to set myself out of all groups. Interesting.

Jason Shelfer: 5:24

It was really and I'm just kind of reflecting on this now like in this podcast, I've been told many times don't use your podcast for your own therapy. Here I am. Here, I am giving myself therapy.

Jason Shelfer: 5:37

However, when this helps us, if we can do a podcast that helps us, then I know there's someone else out there that it can also help but it was part of, I think, because I was, I was hating, I was not liking myself because I didn't necessarily want to fit in with the cool kids. Quote, unquote cool kids, because who was telling them they're cool? But it's cool to be cool like and then I also didn't want to say, I didn't want to Identify with.

Jana Shelfer: 6:09

Lance.

Jason Shelfer: 6:11

Yeah, I wanted to be available for everybody, kind of in that situation, like I was like hey, don't put me in with you because you're being an asshole to Lance. You know what.

Jana Shelfer: 6:20

I don't like when people label me or try to put me in a box either.

Jason Shelfer: 6:24

That's something that you and I have in common, but here I was creating my own label.

Jana Shelfer: 6:29

Interesting. That's a very interesting way of looking at it. Don't label me.

Jason Shelfer: 6:35

I'm creating my own label.

Jana Shelfer: 6:36

Okay, so on my end. Okay, now my therapy Now my turn.

Jason Shelfer: 6:40

Okay, let's get in it. Lay back.

Jana Shelfer: 6:42

For me so I'm a paraplegic and I definitely am different. It's like one of these things is not like the other. And that's me, that is totally me, and I know that I've always had this limiting belief of I just want to be normal. I just want to be normal. And I know I've told this story many, many times, but it wasn't until my cleaning lady literally said normal, you want to be a setting on a washing machine, right? And then I was like well, I don't really want to be that either, right? So I guess, on that seems so average Right, so like.

Jason Shelfer: 7:21

And actually that's on everything, so I have a fear going both ways.

Jana Shelfer: 7:25

I have a fear of being mediocre, average, and I also have a fear of standing out, and that's a conflict that lives deep within me. So I guess I really appreciate today, wonderful Weirdo Day, because it feels like I'm giving myself permission to just be whoever I want to be.

Jason Shelfer: 7:52

I'm giving myself permission to just be whoever I want to be. I think Wonderful Weirder Day brings out that permission slip to find your true authenticity and curiosity, to say, hey, what are those things in my soul that have called to me where I didn't answer the door or answer the phone?

Jana Shelfer: 8:11

You know, just as you say, that I had a little flash of a memory that happened to me, and it was one day I went to work. I worked at a radio station. I went to work and I wore these I mean these overalls, and they weren't like super cool overalls, they were kind of just like overalls that I had. I was like I'm going to wear these. They were ones that I would art in, ones that I needed to go to work that day. So I wore my overalls.

Jason Shelfer: 8:41

You got called Mrs Green Jeans.

Jana Shelfer: 8:42

I remember Topher. I'm going to call Topher out. Topher said to me he whispered, he was like I'm just going to give you a little fashion advice Don't ever wear those again, ever in public. And I remember him making me feel a little weird, like I don't fit in, like that's different and that's so not cool.

Jason Shelfer: 9:10

Yeah, and he was so he wanted to be fashion police.

Jana Shelfer: 9:15

I don't know it, just I just remember this. Oh my gosh, like it's like if your boobs are hanging out. So in psychology there is a thing called tall poppy syndrome, where sometimes the tall poppy, the one that grows taller than the rest of the group, gets cut. It's the first to get cut right.

Jason Shelfer: 9:36

Yeah.

Jana Shelfer: 9:37

When the lawnmower comes, it's definitely going to get cut.

Jason Shelfer: 9:40

Yeah, because the more attention that gets put on you, the more people are going to find, like look for your flaws, you become a target.

Jana Shelfer: 10:14

So it is rational to have a fear of being outside the norm. However, I want to encourage everyone to push that limit, because every time I just allow myself to be my authentic, true self, which, I guarantee you, is very unlike anyone I've ever met. In fact, it's very hard for me to find someone like me, and the reason is because I feel like I'm very eccentric I think that's the word eccentric and I just want to encourage people, though truly experience magic. It's when my most creative self comes out.

Jana Shelfer: 10:43

It's when my most innovative self comes out. It's when I feel opportunities start coming my way. There's synchronicities that start happening.

Jason Shelfer: 10:52

I think it's when you are in true rhythm and harmony with who you're meant to be and who you truly are, and when the like the universe is working in, like you're in the rhythm with the universe, like you're in that total flow state is when you're allowing your what? Quote unquote, weird. We can call it weird. I'm going to call it your true authenticity, your true flavor, like if we're.

Jana Shelfer: 11:20

And sometimes that's outside of what society thinks you're supposed to be.

Jason Shelfer: 11:28

Yes, I'm going to say like, if you and Jana gets on to me sometimes because my analogies or my metaphors are very out there and weird, but if you think of the world, we're celebrating that today as a huge dish, like a huge plate of food. The people in it are all different spices, so we are not all meant to be the same flavor. You are all meant to have your own individual, very unique, very specific taste. Individual, very unique, very specific taste, as if you were picked up and tasted individually like a little small taste bud and you have a distinct flavor. So be that very specific, individual, distinct, weird flavor so you can set the taste of the world apart.

Jana Shelfer: 12:20

You know, I remember when I was younger, growing up, radio stations you could actually tell where people were from by their accents and the music they listened to, because each radio station would kind of have a different flavor.

Jana Shelfer: 12:38

Yes.

Jana Shelfer: 12:38

And then when everything became digitalized and the online era started happening, then that started to homogenize the entire nation, because the same music would go out Everywhere, everywhere. And all of a sudden, my little you know, like I would, I would. I grew up singing Dolly Parton, you know, and Minnie Parton, ireland's in the stream.

Jana Shelfer: 13:06

That is what we are.

Jana Shelfer: 13:09

Yeah, like the Oak Ridge Boys.

Jana Shelfer: 13:11

You know what I'm saying? Oh gosh, yes.

Jana Shelfer: 13:13

Are you with me? Yes or Elvira?

Jason Shelfer: 13:16

Elvira yeah.

Jana Shelfer: 13:21

And I remember when I would meet people from other places I felt a little-.

Jason Shelfer: 13:26

They're singing Joan Jett. What? Who is this Joan Jett?

Jana Shelfer: 13:29

Introduce me. They would look at me like I was a weirdo, yeah.

Jason Shelfer: 13:33

So just going from Tallahassee? Yeah, so just in Florida? Yes, so going from Tallahassee to go meet one of my mom's friends who had a kid my age in Crystal River, florida, which is only 250 miles, the music was totally different.

Jana Shelfer: 13:49

And the reason I bring this up is because it feels just in general. With everything we do, it feels like we are becoming more and more the same and it also feels like when we do step outside that sameness there is I don't want to say a judgment, but for me there's a fear of stepping outside that. However, when I do step outside and have the courage and the bravery to just be me, it's like freeing your soul and again, I cannot express enough how. When I let my soul just unleash, that's when the magic happens. That's when I feel so lucky because all the right opportunities come my way, all the right people come my way and I just feel like I send out this authentic energy.

Jason Shelfer: 14:50

Yeah, and I would argue you mentioned that you feel free when you get outside of that homogenous sameness of everything and I would argue that if you are doing the same thing that everyone else is doing, if you're trying to fit in, if you're hiding your weird, someone has trained you or encouraged you or conditioned you to stay in your box.

Jana Shelfer: 15:25

Yes.

Jason Shelfer: 15:26

So someone has probably conditioned you to hide yourself, to be someone that you're, not to be inauthentically you, so that you can be something they need you to be. So you will not be able to change the world in the way that you are meant to change it.

Jana Shelfer: 15:47

Okay, so today, to celebrate Wonderful Weirdo Day, because weirdos unite I'm going to challenge everyone listening to this to get outside your box. Do something different today. Do something that you've always secretly wanted to do. Maybe you want to make up your own language, or maybe you just want to Just go for a walk.

Jason Shelfer: 16:11

For me it's just hiking through my own town In a costume, in a big backpack.

Jana Shelfer: 16:15

Yeah, go for a walk in a weird costume. Let's just celebrate being weird. Let's get outside the box, because I'm going to tell you one thing there is no box.

Jason Shelfer: 16:28

So weird.

Jana Shelfer: 16:28

That's a societal construction that we have all bought into.

Jana Shelfer: 16:33

Happy, wonderful Weirdo Day. Keep Living Lucky®, you big old weirdo. If the idea of Living Lucky® appeals to you, visit us at www. LivingLucky. com.