Journal Com2Kid's Journal: Define normal 4
I have never met a single person who is normal. I have never met a single person who was raised in a normal family. Yet I have met many people who insist, often to such a degree that it causes them a great deal of anxiety and stress, that everyone else, with them being the sole exception, is a normal person who was raised in a normal household.
I am not worried, dismayed, or upset by people who are crazy. We are all crazy. What I can't stand is people who insist on always holding themselves up to some idealized abstraction that they call normal.
Where I am from, being of mixed race is normal. Never going to church is normal. Recycling is normal. In the house I grew up in, worrying if there would be enough money to pay the bills next month was normal. A happy joyous Christmas was normal. My father getting up at 6:30am to fry me a steak for breakfast was normal.
Not knowing if my father was going to live tomorrow.
Normal.
Not knowing who my birth mother is.
Normal.
Cursing her every day for forcing me to live with the consequences and end effects of her behavior?
Normal.
Knowing I have a loving family to go home to, no matter how psychologically messed up or near death they may be on any given day?
Normal.
The things we take for granted, the things we, personally, in our hearts, believe to be universal truths that are beyond any doubt, make up what we consider to be normal.
To live a happier life, do not take for granted any of the positives blessings that you have received in life, no matter how few they may be. Be thankful, truly grateful to the world, for all the good that has come your way. Look at everything good in your life that you take for granted, all the positives that you assume are normal, and love them with all your heart. That which you assume is normal are things many others cannot take for granted. Food on the table. A safe bed to sleep in at night. A shoulder to cry on. A place to run away to when your home has become too crazy. Whatever it is in your life, love it and hold it dear.
Come to the understanding that everything wrong, everything negative in life that you take for granted, does not have to be that way. If you are unloved, do not assume that is normal. Do not take it for granted that no one will ever love you. If you saw your parents addicted to drugs, do not assume that you too must become a drug addict. If you saw your father beat your mother, do not assume that you must beat your wife or be beaten by your husband.
The beautiful thing about normal, is that it can, it does, everyday, change meaning. We define it. You and I define it for ourselves, and for the world as a whole.
Do not strive for normal. Strive for joy. Strive for happiness. Strive for a better future, for yourself, and for all of us. Make that the new normal.
I get that question a lot... (Score:2)
I've often been asked variants on that-"What's normal? Am I normal? Why am I so messed up?" Generally, that question comes from people who are, on the whole, relatively "normal", or at least certainly no threat to themself or anyone else.
I'll generally answer that if you define one person as normal, everyone else is crazy to some degree. Seems to get the point across, generally speaking.
I think you've got a good point about defining it for yourself, as well. I've had to do that a great deal, especially afte
Very nice. (Score:2)
BTW: The only people I've ever known who insisted that they were normal, weren't.
Think you're different? That's normal. :-)
If we ever DO find someone who is actually normal, we'd probably lock them up or shoot them.
Christopher Titus (Score:2)
Might I suggest the standup comedy of Christopher Titus?
for myself (Score:1)
While what I get to experience outside the boundary of my mind is certainly not normal, in there I'm normal to the utmost degree. Where I define normal to be not striving for joy, but understanding. To live a happier life is not my goal, mine is to live a more aware and correctly-processed one, whether that leads to more happiness or more misery or breaks even. Which I guess makes me pretty abnormal.