This interview is part of the TED Radio Hour episode So Awkward.
Cartoonist Liana Finck is easily startled.
For instance, someone asking to borrow a pen or asking her to watch their laptop is enough to make her jump out of her skin.
Finck says, "It would startle me to the point where I got a migraine and, like, couldn't get back to work for 10 minutes."
Most people don't experience these commonplace coffee shop interactions as hostile takeovers, and Finck knows that. But understanding what's socially "normal" doesn't lessen the intensity of her reactions.
"I think my perceptions are pretty dead-on, but I also think that they're magnified to a point of distortion," Finck says.
Her magnified perceptions make her jump at the smallest intrusion, but that same perceptiveness gives her an edge as an artist.
Finck has channeled her big feelings into a prolific cartoonist career.
What to do with nonsense rules
As a kid, Finck often felt out of place and awkward. "I didn't have what felt like the manual that everyone else had," she says.
Finck now knows what is socially expected of her, but she isn't fully convinced. "I feel like I know the rules, but I feel intensely that they don't actually make sense to me," she says.
So when things seem illogical, she uses her simple, sharp sketches to poke at the everyday absurdities.
She has a knack for chronicling the cringey.
Sketching out a new world ... with a new God
Finck also uses her art to ask and explore bigger questions.
Her book Let There Be Light is a twist on the creation story.
The Book of Genesis didn't make sense to Finck because God seemed too confident. In her 2023 TED Talk, she said, "For me, creation is an act of solving problems, of figuring things out. God already seems to have everything figured out."
So in her reimagining of Genesis, God is a young girl who is both enamored with and overwhelmed by her own creations.
This is a vision of God that Finck could relate to. God is an earnest and flawed woman, overly critical of her messy early drafts of the Earth. Finck makes God in her own image, as an artist.
Becoming a mom
In her newest book, How to Baby, Finck documents the odd adventures of new parents, from making a baby to giving birth to keeping said baby alive.
Finck highlights the ambush of unsolicited baby advice and the countless contradictions of modern parenting.
The balancing act
From a shy young kid to a perplexed new parent, Finck has always used her art to move through big feelings and understand herself.
Finck identifies as neurodiverse.
She tries to balance fitting into social expectations and playing by her own rules. "Certain things I've learned to do, even though they make me really uncomfortable, like make eye contact," she says.
But now, she feels more comfortable picking her battles.
For instance, Finck gets overwhelmed and can't focus on her work when she has to guard a stranger's laptop. The whole interaction is unfathomably illogical to her.
"Asking a stranger to watch your laptop is ridiculous 'cause you want the laptop to be protected from strangers," she says.
So nowadays, when a cafe stranger approaches with a request, Finck protects her peace and simply answers, "No."
This segment of the TED Radio Hour was produced by Katie Monteleone and edited by Sanaz Meshkinpour.
The digital story was written by Fiona Geiran.
You can follow us on Facebook @TEDRadioHour and email us at TEDRadioHour@npr.org.
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