Killing Normalcy; The Most Normal Post You’ll Ever Read

The idea of being yourself has made its way across a majority of personal development articles and advice columns. These articles preach freedom, power, and enlightenment, and ensure that if we do certain things, we will be able to live a remarkable life. I’ve found for the most part that these articles alone, however informative and explanatory, unfortunately cannot truly make us an extraordinary person. We can however use what is around us, such as the writing of others, as tools to unlocking freedom in our lifestyles.

Strictly speaking, is it not odd to have someone else tell you how to be yourself? While this mindset ends up contradicting the very foundation of this post, we can in fact learn a great deal from the work of others. To do this, we must find out how the things we read and write can hurt us, and also how it can help us.

Normalcy is a disease

As a writer and designer, I consider everything I find on the internet, as normal. However brilliant or dull an article is, or splashing a website is, I simply consider it normal. It is not uniquely mine (meaning it is independent of myself), therefore it is normal. With this thought, I need just one mindset; Do not be normal. If day in and day out, I can avoid falling into the normalcy around me, I achieve my goal. If I achieve this goal, I can’t help but to be myself. It may not be easy but if I practice, and practice right, I will succeed.

If you do normal things and think normal thoughts, chances are you’re normal too.

When we study others, we get tangled in the webs of our egos. Information enters into our mind, filters through what we currently believe to be true, and digests eventually into our consciousness. Any information going through this process, if not perceived appropriately, can become like a disease. Our perception takes over what really is true to ourselves, feeds off of our ego, and pretty soon we find ourselves conforming and comparing ourselves with all the other normal people. When we do this, we limit creativity, joy, and so many other powerful entities within ourselves.

Breaking free

To truly find the unique self that everyone is talking about, start asking yourself questions.

• Has my ego ever asked whether or not something was normal?
• Have I ever not done something because it wasn’t normal?
• What is the least normal thing about me?
• Is normalcy effecting my life?

I know that if I find myself living based on what my ego believes, I will end up being misled.  Just being aware of these answers can help stimulate energy and meditative thought.

Now, I realize it would be unreasonable to suggest that we could live a completely unique life. So at the very least, be unique in your normalcy. Use the ordinary things you come across in your life as a way to study yourself. Instead of taking the advice of others at face value, raise questions and use any advice you receive as medicine to help fight the confinements of ego. If you can be a constant, conscious observer of normalcy, I’m confident that you will be able to live more freely.

Practice! Start with this post. I invite you to consider my words the most normal of them all. See what you can learn about yourself by asking yourself questions regarding what I’ve said. Then, move to the questions I raised in the second section to see how normalcy fits in your life.