Where to start. Anybody who starts to examine themselves, or anybody else, closely enough begins to appreciate just how weird they really are. There is not such thing as normal. Conformity yes, normality, no.
As only a depression sufferer can do, I have spent enough time on self reflection. I never quite felt normal, but I think that is as much because I am aware of my sometimes altered state as it is because of the state itself. It also has something to do with my upbringing.
Both of my parents were young teenagers in Europe during WW2 and saw things they shouldn't have. It dramatically changed their outlook on life in general and gave them a strong non-conformist tilt.
With my depression and a son diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, a 'form' of autism, I have done a lot of reading on "isms".
The brain is a big black box and those with the most intimate knowledge of its workings readily admit just how little they know about it.
As a species, we have this need to put everything into neat little boxes and label them. The inner workings of the mind just cannot be labeled and boxed like this, at least not yet. Autism is a great example. It was originally labeled a disease of the mind, now its a spectrum of disorders. I personally believe its a collection of symptoms we as a species feel a need to classify, some of which may or may not turn out to be either related or disorders. We just don't know enough about how the mind works.
Chris, its cool that you have found something that describes the way you're mind functions. I'm also glad to see that they deliberately note that its not a disease.
I also think its good that they mention everyone has a level of LLI. Like symptoms of so many "isms" its a sliding scale that everyone fits on somewhere. When you start reading works by current researchers, this emerges as a theme.
I recognized bits of myself in the symptoms of ADD, yet those 'symptoms' have never negatively affected me at work or academically (except that I was incredibly bored and hence distracted throughout public school). I look at some of the stuff in the link you put up and think, hey, that fits perfectly, yet other stuff doesn't match at all.
Long story short, your normal, in a weird sort of way.
