Thursday, January 12, 2017

An Exotic Beauty

I still hear people telling me from time to time that I should be more normal and I laugh every time…I think to myself what is normal anyway? We are all different, and diversity is what makes this world so beautiful.

If we all start wearing the same clothes, thinking, talking and behaving in the exact same way, life will no longer be as interesting as it is now. Why would anyone want to live in a world like that? Why would anyone waste their time and energy in trying as hard as possible to be normal?[i]

“Be a first rate version of yourself, not a second rate version of someone else.”[ii]

Diversity is such an incredible thing…Even though we can’t all be friends with one another. That doesn’t mean we can’t accept, and embrace our differences since this is what makes us all unique.

Life is beautiful because of the diversity present all around us…Not because of the many people who are constantly trying to act as normal as possible. Just so they won’t be noticed, judged and criticized by others. So here is why you should no longer care about being normal:

1.  To be normal is to be insane- Think about it. Who in their right minds would walk through life without questioning their own beliefs…that were handed down to them by their parents, their teachers… friends, mass media, etc.


Without questioning their way of thinking; they think at thirty, forty, seventy the same way they were thinking when they were twenty years old. Not realizing the impact thoughts have on their level of happiness without questioning their normal behavior and…what life is really all about.


 
“Normal is not something to aspire to, it’s something to get away from.” [iii]

2.  It takes great courage to be different - “When will you understand that being normal isn’t necessarily a virtue? It rather denotes a lack of courage.”[iv] 


 It takes courage to step outside the norms and be different. It takes courage to say no to the so called normal.


[You should] just embrace your real essence [so you can] embrace who you really are deep down inside. Be yourself without the fear of being judged, labeled and criticized by those around you.


 
“Today you are you that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is you than you.” [v]

3.  To be normal is the ideal aim of the unsuccessful


 
“To be normal is the ideal aim of the unsuccessful.”[vi]

Great things can only be achieved by those who let go of the need to label themselves as being normal. [It is done] by those who have the courage to step away from the crowd and embrace their uniqueness.

There’s no need to pretend you’re normal anymore since normal is not [necessarily] something to aspire to, but rather something you need to heal yourself from.

“I sometimes ask myself how it came about that I was the one to develop the theory of relativity. The reason, I think, is that a normal adult never stops to think about problems of space and time. These are things which he has thought about as a child. [vii]

4.  To be different is a real adventure - Normal people don’t have much fun since they are so busy doing the things normal people do, [which is] worrying about the many things normal people worry. [They stress] about the many things normal people stress about.


It’s so liberating to just be who you want to be, and live your life according to your own rules… [These are] not the rules of [others] (without hurting anyone in the process of course).


 “Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.”[viii]

5.  Uniqueness requires imagination - It is quite easy to be normal, everybody can do it but it takes great courage, skills, imagination and creativity to be different from the rest of the world and trust me, the world needs more people like that, the world is thirsty for uniqueness.[ix]


 
“For me, insanity is super sanity. The normal is psychotic. Normal means lack of imagination, lack of creativity.”[x]




[i] An “exotic beauty” is a term usually applied to a woman who is regarded as beautiful, despite the fact that her looks are not typical of those considered to be beautiful in the speaker's culture.
 
[ii] Quote by Judy Garland
 
[iii] Quote by Jodie Foster
 

[iv] Quote by Unknown

 
[v] Quote by Dr. Seuss
 
[vi] Quote by Carl Gustav Jung
 
[vii] Quote by Albert Einstein
 
[viii] Quote by Helen Keller
 
[ix] Adapted from the article, “You Should No Longer Care about Being Normal” by Luminita D.
 
[x] Quote by Jean Dubuffet
 

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