Do you mind being called "eccentric"?

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My therapist the other day told me to stop calling myself "weird" because it was negative self-talk. She suggested that instead I use a more positive word like "eccentric".

Now, to me, "eccentric" is actually more insulting because it implies that I am crazy or irrational, where as "weird" for me just implies that I deviate from expectations. For me, "eccentric" evokes the image of a person who wears foil hats and never leaves their house because they are afraid of aliens. While I consider myself unusual in many ways, I am striving to be someone who is respected in my field for my ability to soundly design studies to test hypotheses. Using "eccentric" to refer to myself just seems self-defeating to this.

My question to all of you: How do you feel about the word "eccentric"? Would you use it to describe yourself or not?

I've been "eccentric" all my life.

I believe "eccentric" is related to "esoteric," "exotic," words like that......that's my impression of it.

Whenever someone describes me as "essentric" it's usually even less positive than them just calling me "weird". It is literally used as just a "nice" way of calling someone weird. If someone told me to call myself that instead of "weird" I would immediately realize how detached they are from the experience of being seen as weird/eccentric.

To me, referring to myself a "eccentric" means only that I do not care what others think, and that I am going to express myself in whatever way I feel like!

So if I want to dump a box full of Legos out onto the living-room floor and build a spaceship, then I will do it!

If I want to bake a chocolate-marshmallow-coconut-swirl cake, decorate it with green mint icing, and eat it while sipping Dom Perignon champagne, then I will do it!

If I want to play an AD&D character that is a 500-year-old female 15th-level high-elf cleric/magic-user in a Star Wars RPG, then I will do it!

And if I want to mow my lawn at midnight with an electric mower affixed with LED headlights, then I will do that too!

Who cares what other people think?

No.

Eccentric to me implies different.

But also intelligent, playful, from these islands (which I don't mind on an apolitical level), artistic etc.

We love our eccentrics

Weird can mean at best all the negative parts of eccentric. And at worse, a creep. It's also pretty dehumanising, like being an it.

I suppose it would be ok for a girl or otherwise feminine person cos of the Wyrd Sisters. Implies they're a bit magical and witchlike. But for someone masculine? It's an insult imo.
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That said it's all a matter of personal opinion and the therapist should ask you what you mean by 'weird' rather than telling you what words to use to describe yourself.

There may be some linguistic nuance but for me, "eccentric" is more about expression and "weird" more about identity.
My weird personality is expressed by my eccentric behaviors <- something like this.

My "eccentric" behaviors are often childlike, like climbing a tree in a public park and pretending to be an owl. It has nothing to do with paranoia or strange beliefs, it's about not conforming to social norms and expectations because... I feel some drive to express myself that way. I feel suffocating when I can't be even a bit eccentric.

Eccentric is much more positive than weird. Weird suggests creepiness. Eccentricity may even be attractive.

I prefer that word to "different", in fact to I myself refer to my "eccentricities". So don't mind at all.

Eccentricity, in a sense, is a "useful weird."

Did you check a dictionary?

Eccentric: (of a person or behavior) unconventional and slightly strange.
Weird: very strange, bizarre.

I agree with your therapist. Eccentric is a more positive word--and that was even before I checked with a dictionary.

Exactly. Eccentric just means slightly strange, not necessarily mad. I would call myself eccentric, but I wouldn't like it if it was used as an insult.

I don't mind being called eccentric because I am. I'm very unusual in many ways. I dress differently. My art work is different. I had a pretty unusual way of decorating my porch for Christmas. I have very unusual ideas when it comes to my arts & crafts. My poetry is different. I also love peas and characters that look like peas.

Ive frequently been called eccentric most of my adult life.

It doesn't bother me at all, I understand that others find me different and want to find a descriptor.

There are far worse things to be called.