Normal is not being the same. Normal is not making everyone else feel unthreatened around you. Normal is not withholding the truth in a room full of lies. Normal is your individual state of balance and peace. It is being who you were born to be--perfect and whole.
I have experienced the pressure to be normal. Children and adults alike in my life have urged me not to be me but to align my actions with the actions of others. If I were putting myself or others in danger that would make sense, but my words and actions were simply different and disruptive to the deafening silence of normality.
The desire to be normal may be a result of not wanting to stand out, the desire to fit in, or the need to feel included. Human behavior and healthy emotional development dictates that we socialize with others. The need to be loved and accepted cannot take priority over accepting and loving oneself. But that is hard to do if parents or family members make it their business to normalize creative spirits before these unique beings have a chance to blossom.
Sometimes we are born into families and communities that do not welcome individuals who stand out and shine brighter than the rest. It’s funny how people love exceptional humans who make it in the world, but will often be guilty of tearing down the ones in their very own families. What we sometimes forget is that normal is not special. Normal does not change the world. If we want to evolve, we have to allow the weird ones to be weird. The more we love them, the more they flourish and create.
If the weird ones survive childhood and adolescence, they should fiercely defend their weirdness and not be sidetracked by pleasing normal people. Some people are uncomfortable when confronted with anything different and will defend the banality of their existence instead of embracing growth and change. That is their problem and their plight which the weird ones should not have to suffer under.
Every human being should be free to be the unique presence he or she was born as. Being what feels good is all the normal a person should need to be. I encourage the unique ones to remain focused when criticized and recognize that the critics are simply voicing their discomfort at not feeling free to be themselves.
The only acceptance anyone need is that of self.
