> Silly question maybe, but does anyone here worry if they're "normal"?
>
> A
>
Hey, not a silly question at all - but rather revealing if I answer it. As a
young man I wanted to be anything but normal. To call something 'normal' was
my greatest insult to anything and anyone. I tried all the usual chemicals
to make me 'un-normal' - and followed the pack in trying to be different,
hence conformed in a stereotypical young way. Sure, I was different than my
siblings - but I was the same as my adopted group. Just switched normalcies,
I guess.
Later, (I was 35) when harm came to me via those 'usual chemicals', I opted
out of the cool-school (which was very uncool indeed by then) and went for
recovery. Now, I am very ordinary and normal in many respects. & loving it!
I once left a rock'n'roll radio station where I was Promotions Manager (tres
cool) and took a job as PR Officer with Sheltered Workshops Australia and
Good Samaritan Industries. (It was an altruistic phase I was going through.)
Here I worked with disabled and disadvantaged people every day of the week.
Most of the young ones wanted to be 'normal' - that was their goal in life.
& many of the professionals who serviced them in one way or another played
on this cruelly to get them to do things. I always told them no-one was
normal and that we were all unique and should celebrate our difference. This
got me into a lot of hot water :-) I ended up back in advertising where my
other habits went unnoticed.
So, normal schmormal. If I am normal in many respects, it is to protect
those parts that aren't - mainly my creativity. You can't be a creative
drone, yet you must mask yourself as a drone to be left alone long enough to
create something worthwhile.
Here endeth the lesson.
Andrew
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