(Mods, please don't delete. I received great input from people with my last thread on this subject that was very helpful to me (and likely others), but it got deleted, and I now I don't have the content. If a thread is not hateful or inflammatory and people are giving genuine responses, why delete the content? This sort of thing is why letsrun has lost many of its better contributors.)
Anyway...
I'm definitely not adopted as I look just like my dad, but I'm totally different from everyone else in my family. I have a brother and a sister, 5 and 7 years older than me, and a mom and a dad. My mom, brother, and sister are all three disasters of human beings. Neither of my siblings can even hold down a minimum wage job, and my mom barely can. I think both of my siblings will either end up on the street or on disability or something. My brother is an alcoholic, and my mother and sister are obese. All three are pretty redneck and smallminded. My dad is much more successful but doesn't really like to do anything besides work and watch Fox News. He has no desire to go anywhere, do anything, learn anything, or talk to anyone. He has pretty much lived under a rock the past 40 years and it's definitely evident when you spend time with him. He might as well be 90 years old or something as he has no idea what's going on in the world, who celebrities are, what can be done by modern medicine, etc.
I, on the other hand, was a runner and am still very fit at 28, have traveled to 11 different countries, and am currently in a chemistry PhD program. This post was motivated after going back to my hometown for Christmas. It's been obvious to everyone for quite awhile that I'm different, but this is only the second time I've been back in two years, and I couldn't help but feel totally detached this time around, like I just have nothing in common with these people anymore, to the extent that there's not even any point to spend time with them as we have nothing to talk about or do together. They just complain about their effed up lives (that they've screwed up) and want to just sit around and drink, and I can't talk about books, politics, or anything going on in my life. They don't really want to hear, and they wouldn't understand even if they did. It feels a bit isolating, but more than that I think I mostly feel nothing, which kind of puzzles me. I know I should feel sad, but I've gotten to the point where I feel like there's no reason to maintain any sort of relationship with them as they all have a negative impact on my life, and I could enjoy Christmas much more doing something different.
I'm posting here not to vent but because I really am puzzled by the whole thing. I don't understand why I'm so different from everyone else in the family. Is there anyone else like this? Feel like you're totally different from everyone else? How does this happen?