Normal vs. Weird

It’s a shame that it isn’t normal to be weird.

The subtext of many, or most situations in our society is that normal is good. Normal is what you want when you want to be fit for purpose, as the majority of people will need to be if they aren’t prepared to think up and work towards a purpose for themselves.

Think of anyone great you know, whether in your personal circle or not. The chances are, this person is not considered normal. The might be considered an exception, a genius whose weirdness has been directed so they are able to thrive where most of us survive. The chances are, they didn’t contain their weirdness, they owned it; leant into it. It’s part of their greatness.

Most of us could be like this, if we were not trained, to varying degrees, to isolate and eradicate weirdness both in ourselves and others. For most people, weirdness will be a threat to their survival - associated with antisocial tendencies that threaten the tribe, er, I mean network, on which we so rely.

It’s a shame that it isn’t normal to be weird - not yet. Weirdness and normal are still polar opposites, and the paradigm is that people should be normal. Unfortuantely, this is pushed on everyone, and if you want to be weird, you have to fight for it, not only against the world at large, and not only against expectations and hope of others close to you, but against your own internalised reality.

This is a battle of which I am, as yet, an unfortunate casualty. It’s taken me decades to even begin to understand things about how I relate to myself and the world, so that I can start to think about how to make my life here work for everyone. Not that I know how that will work, yet.

What makes you weird? Are these traits you see as undesirable? Do they put you at odds with others? If you embraced it, what would that look like? What advantages might your weirdness offer you in different contexts? Can you retain your normalcy and own your weirdness simultaneously? Are you struggling to live a normal life? How do people respond when you reveal your weird self?

In my mind, and in a perfect world, all people really need is empathy and patience. Weirdness or the lack of it are incidental. But that’s not this world, not yet.