Growing up as the black sheep of my family left a lasting mark on me. I always felt like an outsider — like I didn’t fit in, even within my own family. Maybe I saw the world differently or didn’t meet expectations, but it wasn’t easy.
But all of this taught me so much about resilience, independence & belonging. I learned to bounce back from tough times, trust my own choices & find connections with people who care about me. These lessons have shaped who I am today.
In this list, I will share with you 10 common traits that many of us who grew up as the “black sheep” tend to share.
Featured Image Credit: HayDmitriy /Depositphotos.com.
You’re Very Independent
Being the black sheep meant you learned from an early age that you couldn’t always depend on others for help or support. Or maybe you just didn’t belong, were often misunderstood & had to do everything on your own. Thus, you came to be extremely independent.
You Have More Empathy for Others
Having been left out or misinterpreted as a child gave you a taste of what it’s like to be an outsider. You figured out how hard it is to be invisible & so you’re more sensitive to other people’s feelings. You know how it feels because you’ve been there.
You’re Incredibly Resilient
When you are rejected or treated differently as a child, you must learn to live & move on. Every rejection, fight or loneliness taught you how to recover & keep going forward.
You Find It Hard to Believe People – To the Fullest Level
If you’ve ever been shut out or betrayed by family members – people who you expected to always be there for you – it can leave scars. Now you’ve grown to keep your feelings to yourself so that you don’t get hurt again. That’s why you find it so hard to believe in people again.
You Often Seek Validation
Growing up as the black sheep might have left you feeling like you had to prove your worth again & again. Or maybe you were never good enough – according to family or people. This makes you push yourself as an adult to achieve the recognition & validation that you never enjoyed as a child.
You Think Outside the Box
Being different from the rest of the family made you feel like you could create your own way. Or maybe you got bullied into making your own decisions or pushed to make things your own way — so you learned to think in a new way. Such situations gave you the chance to defy conventions & perceptions.
You Crave a ‘Found Family’
When your biological family wasn’t always a secure or loving one, you learned to find a home for yourself. And that’s why you – as an adult – value close, supportive friendships & other committed relationships. They give you the link you didn’t have as a kid.
You Deal with Self-Doubt
Even though you’ve become so strong & successful, the self-denial still speaks. Being hated, misunderstood or rejected when you were young may give you a fear of being never “good enough.” And this fear can make you deflate yourself or make you feel that you don’t know how to do things, even when you actually do.
You Stand Up for Others
You’ve been expelled, so you know the significance of fairness & kindness. You know what it is like to be excluded, so you are the first to stand up for the helpless.
You Refuse to Conform
You never quite matched up–and that’s okay. Growing up as the black sheep has taught you to let go of being normal & never conform to anyone else’s definition of what it is to be normal. It’s taught you that it’s much better to just live, for yourself, and not as someone else expects.
Disclaimer: This list is solely the author’s opinion based on research and publicly available information.
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