Defining Normal

Walking through the hallways on a typical school day, most everybody looks the same. Girls wear leggings and boots, or sweatshirts and Nike running shorts. Boys will typically wear a T-shirt and gym shorts along with the classic Nike socks. It seems like every high school student has a smartphone these days, and uses the time in between classes to check it. Five years from now, everything will be different. People will be wearing completely different outfits and looking at completely different gadgets. Still, everyone will be doing whatever is popular. Society puts this idea in peoples heads that in order to be cool, you must be the same as everyone else. Whether it be defined by the things you wear, the things you say, or the things you own, we are judged every single day for being a little different than what is considered ‘normal.’

Being normal is defined by Merriam-Webster as being “usual or ordinary: not strange.” But still, that begs the question, what is normal? There is no way to define what people consider to be “usual” or “ordinary” because it is ever changing in society. It seems that in our fast pace world, new gadgets or new fashion styles appear every 5 seconds, and we are expected to keep up with it all. To me, that seems nearly impossible. There are so many things going on the world and in our individual lives, all happening at the same time and all happening so fast.

With that being said, I believe people should just be themselves. Why spend time worrying about being everyone else? It’s what makes you unique and without differentiation between people in this world, there would be no advances or changes in society.

On my neighbor's refrigerator, I saw a magnet with a quote by a man named Alfred Adler, and he said, “The only normal people are the ones you don't know very well,” and it actually makes a lot of sense. When you think about it, we always look at other people or families and think that they have regular lives. That they are not strange in any way, and that we are the weird ones. Everyone has a weird side, and for some reason, everyone hides it to be normal.

Being yourself gives you the right to make your own decisions. It gives you the freedom to chose what it best for you and your well being. Stop caring about the other people judging you, because in reality, they have no right to. Staying true to yourself and your identity is one of the most important things when it comes to success and to forming relationships with other people.

Easier said than done. Being yourself when you are put in a situation that is outside your comfort zone is extremely difficult. In the long run though, in order to create strong relationships with people, you have to start it off right and true. Be yourself and stay original, because honestly, being somebody else is already taken.