On normalcy

When you’re a kid you are the most you you’ll ever be. You dress how you want, play with who you want, watch what TV show you want, eat what you want. You get to do the things that you most want to do. You get to pursue the passions that are most appealing to you. And yet somehow, in the process of growing up, you move away from those things that you enjoy doing so much. Yes, I know that as we grow we take on more responsibilities like school work, chores, relationship maintenance… and therefore there is less time to do what we want. Yet responsibility isn’t the tide that’s carrying you away.

Stereotypes are something that we like to pretend don’t exist anymore. The extreme representations of jocks, preps, weirdos, nerds and trouble makers that we saw in the Breakfast Club seem comical to us now. I went to high school with kids who deny there were stereotypes at all. Maybe it’s because they have all been swept away from what they like and who like love and what they are and mixed together into one, large “normal”.

Normalcy is important to some people. Wearing the same clothes as everyone else is seen as normal. Buying and listening to the same music as everyone else is normal. Starving yourself or taking supplements to be the same size as everyone is normal. Hanging out with all the other “normals” is normal.

Unfortunately rarely a person seems to notice that “normal” is not normal.

If we were all meant to be the same, we would all have the exact same DNA. We would have the same musical, entertainment, and social preferences. And if you’ve made it this far in your life without realizing the impossibility of that “normal” than I feel very sorry about you.

Being yourself can be one of the hardest yet most rewarding things you will ever do in your life. Getting back to that childlike ability to enjoy the things you truly enjoy, without caring what anyone else thinks, is a true beauty in life. It comes with costs. You may be branded weird. You may have less friends. But you are rewarded with a truth that many others can’t find.

When I was in high school I had a hard time accepting this truth .I wanted to be liked by the other girls, lusted after by the boys, invited to all the big parties. But as a grew from a freshman to a senior I realized those wants were all wrong, for me at least. I realized that watching the Harry Potter movies so many times that I memorized all the words was more fun to me than watching any “normal” movie. I understood that hanging out with my best friend, even though she was branded weird for liking different people, bands and fashions was more important than a thousand fake friends.I learned that playing in the band was more fulfilling than partying all the time.

In this day and age, being yourself is a sacrifice. While I hope that one day it becomes normal, it still isn’t. But I urge you to find the things you love and stick with them. Don’t take the easy road and follow everyone else. Fight the current til you make it ashore. Because if you do, you’ll realize the things you sacrificed weren’t sacrifices at all but small victories in the battle for you.

Has anyone ever really wanted to be referred to as normal?

I hope not.