Stand strong. Don’t let other people define you. Everyone is different in their own way.

It's good that you got there in the end. Wear your 'weird' with pride. The shame is all theirs, treating family in that way.

I "think too much."
I'm "too intellectual."
I'm "too cold, 'robotic', 'unemotional'."
I'm too unconventional.

Yeah, no. You're insecure and threatened, I see right through you, and I'm not going to dial it down for you.

Don't change for any drop punt, family or otherwise! I'm a black sheep of the family and as Maxwell Smart said

" and loving it ".

Good to see you overcame it and realised there wasn't anything wrong with you in the first place. Family isn't always there for you and sometimes the family who do stick around, aren't blood related I just give people that give me the shits a good old DILLIGAF followed by

" try not to damage your colon sport "

I have always stood strong in the face of opposition and/or conflict if I thought I was right and if I thought the issue really mattered. On the other hand, I havel seldom gotten hung up on petty things, and I have never rubbed differences in the faces of those with whom I disagree.

Family is as cruel as ....never mind. Sister of my wife sent her a letter. She was crying for days and finally showed it to me. The OLDER sis said: "We can accept that your husband made you a nudist and made yo to go with him to sex clubs. God said that you have to obey husband. BUT WE WILL NEVER ACCEPT THAT YOU ALLOWED HIM TO STEER YOU AWAY FROM OUR BELOVED CHURCH". My wife was for a while suicidal. Her family was more in influence then a husband of 20 plus years. She still believes that she will sizzle in hell for living with me.

What you described are some of the things that prompted me to turn my back on most of the people who are considered my "family".
I have no use for any of them. I don't have to associate with ANY of them.
I moved away from them and made my own life.
You don't need them, their acceptance, or their approval, for ANYTHING.

You aren't the one who is "abnormal", they are.
Fuck what they think, about anything.

Second part I can identify with because I'm sure my middle sister who is still alive has talk badly about me to people behind my back. I don't know for sure but she did believe me for 3 years when I possibly 10 11 12 and maybe 13. I'm 62 now and she still bullies me now and then. It was verbal abuse. She has lots of friends and I've seen her with some of them and she's really nice to them. Ignores me when I am with her and them most of the time. I finally realized that this is just how she is with me. We don't spend a lot of time together but we're civil. Just not that close. I was close to my other sister who passed away in 2006.

I have a different answer to each paragraph. When I was in high school I was very interested in psychology. I wanted to be a psychologist. I'd spent years delving into my own personality and wondering why I am like I am. Although I didn't really figure that out until I was older. When I got into college and I told my dad I wanted to be a psychologist he said " that is a nothing job". That was my dad's favorite phrase. And everything I wanted to do he kept saying this and nothing job. I finally ended up at FedEx and he said my goal should be to take over Fred Smith's job. I was a courier and enjoying it that wasn't good enough for him. I've been underemployed all my life. I did find a stop speaking to him when I was about 33. He died about 10 years later. Never spoke to him again. Although after his second wife died I did write him a couple of letters. And send a few gifts. I have never regretted not communicating with him.

Let it go.
Some families are so toxic that the only sane thing you can do is walk away.
Blood IS NOT thicker than water.
Friends can be "family".
Find your "tribe".
Not everyone is worth your time/effort.
You are not required to attend all the drama to which you are invited.