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Beany Brain #79: Reframing Labels; Water We Waiting For?

Beany Brain #79: Reframing Labels; Water We Waiting For?

Abigail Munday
February 03, 2026

Beany Brain: loving our jumping-bean brains!

Welcome to this issue of the Beany Brain! I hope today’s newsletter will bounce us up as we contemplate the upsides and challenges of being neurodivergent, a little beauty, some creativity, and just general yeehawesomeness.

Beany Brain: loving our jumping-bean brains!
- Welcome to this issue of the Beany Brain! I hope t …
Reframing Labels

Photo by Abigail Munday

Reframing Labels

Some folks don’t want to get a diagnosis of any type of neurodivergency, or to get their kid(s) diagnosed, due to worry about having a “label.”

In my case, the “labels” helped me understand myself a whole lot better.

Plenty of things suddenly made sense.

And of course, I am now able to give myself the grace that I had felt unable to do before.

Yet the labels I used to hear or feel about myself are still there:

Too sensitive.
Too quiet.
Too weird.

Reframing Autism, a group in Australia, says that we can reframe the labels.

“Too sensitive” can become “highly attuned to the world.”

I am quiet. Who’s to say what “too quiet” is anyway?

Too quiet = contemplative and imaginative.

Too weird = quirky and creative.

These are gifts.

What reframing can you do for yourself right now?

You’re empirically a gift to the world. I’m glad you’re here.

Ha Ha Haiku

A funny haiku for you every week in every newsletter, whether it’s one of my own or one I curate for you. HA. Ha. Haiku.

everyone laughed

at the pie in my face

but i ate well

- James Young

(again, not totally 100% haiku, but close)

Photo by Abigail Munday (too cold to swim in)

Water Water Everywhere

I always thought I loved being in water because I was a Floridian.

Turns out maybe it’s also because I’m autistic.

From what I’m reading and have experienced, many children who are autistic love playing with water, being in it, being near it (hence the need for parents of autistic children to be hypervigilant around water with their intensely-focused and sometimes eloping kids). (But the autistic kids/adults don’t necessarily love loud echoing showers, or getting cleaned in water.)

Autism Detect says:

For children who struggle with sensory overload, floating can feel weightless and safe.

As an adult, that’s exactly how I feel too.

When I’m in a (heated!) pool, I love twisting around in water, floating on my back with my ears underwater so I can hear my breathing and other muted sounds, walking in water (not on!), kicking my legs.

When I’m in the (warm!) ocean, the waves make me feel so good, and when I’m in bed later, I can still feel the waves rocking me to sleep.

If you don’t necessarily feel really coordinated outside of water, being in it can make you feel like a graceful mermaid (or merman, I suppose).

It’s a masterful maneuver for regulation.

I’ve been to the (indoor heated city) pool tonight, actually, and now I’m feeling all cozy and happily tired.

Maybe I’m part manatee. Give me some warm(er) water, salad, safety from speedboats (and speedy car drivers), and I’m good to go.

Yeehawesome!

Yeehawesome! is a happy-brain roundup in each issue of Beany Brain. What’s happening that’s good in brain land? What’s bringing me joy?

New Yorker magazine covers! They’re always totally yeehawesome. And this past week I watched the Netflix documentary about the first 100 years of the New Yorker. I hope you get a chance to see it—they go by decade, starting in the 1920s, and wrap each decade at the New Yorker in its historical context. Plus magazine covers! Plus cartoons!
While we’re on the topic of magazine covers, my favorite cover of all time was in the Economist when Saudi women got the legal right to drive:

Tiny vending machine art for 50 pence! The group running this vending machine in Yorkshire, UK, will be collecting donated artwork to sell in the machine to raise money for a homeless charity. What a clever and yeehawesome idea. I love it.

Quote of the Week

A woman is like a tea bag—you can’t tell how strong it is until it’s in hot water.

- Eleanor Roosevelt

Beany Brownie Points and Extra Bonus Funniness

Wonderful Wednesday

Wonderful Wednesday was a day once a year in college when they would suddenly and surprisingly call off all classes and we’d play all day. The cafeteria provided special fun food and we’d do stuff outside like slip ‘n slides and jello wrestling in sumo suits. This segment of Beany Brain is dedicated to that memory of silliness and fun—no words, just a photo from the week that I’ve taken or found that reminds me to let the joy in. Since Beany Brain is published on Wednesday every week (at least, Wednesday in Japan), I hope you enjoy this Wonderful Wednesday.