What makes someone different?

A high level of personal charisma. From following and leading oneself and not someone else.

By your definition: Not claiming to be different.

In actuality: We’re all pretty much cattle being shuffled through the slaughterhouse. Some of us have spots, some are solid brown, but we all contribute to the methane levels in the atmosphere.

@Seek Yes. However, I am not very satisfied with my own definition. But if I stick to that for now, I agree. Methane.

I don’t quite understand what it is you’re asking? We’re all clearly different, though we share traits in common. If you’re asking what it is that qualifies some as exceptional, well that’s a tough one. I mean there’s Charles Manson or Elvis. Ah! cynicism from @Seek

We all want, in a species that has over 7 billion members, to be at least a little special, somewhat unique. We all are different, in that even identical twins (essentially clones) raised together in the same way can have different life experiences and develop different perspectives because of that.
To be really different goes against our sense of fitting into a community, and is therefore, on a visceral level, a threat to our survival.
People willing to risk their lives in the interest of exploration (astronauts come to mind) are different.
People willing to challenge, and act on that challenge, the social norm ( gay men breaking the boundaries in order to adopt and raise children) are different.

And I would never characterize you as a sheep. :-)

@stanleybmanly People who are different enough that it shows in their life styles. Something that goes beyond exposing thoughts and ideals, and leaving them at that. (positive or negative)

@canidmajor GA, I agree with the whole society/pack animal mentality being part of the survival. This is something I try to talk about a lot, but I have problems explaining my thoughts right and proper. I think you did a good job of it.

Fucked up avatars? :D

@ucme LOL yeah, you special devil you. :D

I beg to differ. Most people of course are cattle being shuffled off to the slaughterhouse. But there are those rugged individuals who are quite unique.

What makes these individuals unique? What is thinking outside of the box?

One thing is those that resist the energy to conform and fight against the whole trying to fit a round peg into a square hole. (i.e. resisting schools, parents and peers attempts to get you to choose a career from a book of established careers so in 30 years you will have a pension assuring you of a safe old age [although since the housing bubble burst in 2008 we have found out what an incredibl lie that was!])

Ignoring the established rule of making as much money as possible to blanket themselves from life’s alleged hardships and living on their wits and natural talents. (Sometimes even living off the land, as it were).

Being a spiritual being who eschews organized religion and even the whole I believe in god but he is certainly not a personal being routine and actually going out and making friends with the big guy and growing exponentially from that point.

But when you get down to it, this only makes you different from the cattle, sheep and robots. There are many many other individuals who are different in this manner, different similarly as it were.
So no matter how different you are from the norm, you will always be similar to someone who is also different in the same manner as are you.

I’m horny, horny, horny, horny…XD

If hipsters are mainstream, but I am not one…does that make me a hipster?

For difference see diversity, that’s a good thing innit?

There are those who of course stand out! There seems to be a need in all of us to want to be “good at something” and then be recognized for it. What sets us apart? I don’t know, but I’ve noticed that every one of these answers is as different as the folks who wrote them. In the end, what does it matter as @Seek paraphrased Hamlet on the futility of existence “and all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death”

Whether it matters or not, I’m just curious. :p

change that to “paraphrased Macbeth”

Not much. We have far more in common with other humans than we have to distinguish us. It is the combination of patters that make up the variety. Just like no two snowflakes are alike, they are still snowflakes. And while fingerprints are unique, they are all attached to fingers.

Well..I’m bright enough, but hardly an Einstein, really though, who else do you know that claims a goose is the love of her life and who has spent countless hours hot tubbing with one and 16 years teaching it tricks and words and hand signals? lol
We’re all different in different ways, but there is different and then there is eccentric.
Count me in the eccentric camp. haha

@Dan_Lyons Well said, standing ovation! from she who refused to get that nice, safe, state job 37 years ago and paved her own way, even if that pavement has buckled under me since 2008. lol

@Coloma One thing I have learned is that the toughest times for me have been no more than a doorway into a new lifestyle which I find far more enjoyable than the lifestyle the hard times forced me away from!

To tell the truth, in the past I didn’t want to be different! But people kept telling me so, in the way that gave me the impression that being different was a crime. I tried to change to fit in, but I couldn’t. My brain is just “wired” differently from them. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t change myself to be like them. I did succeeded in petending that I changed in some ways, but that seemed so fake.

Well, that was before I accepted myself.

@Dan_Lyons Oh yeah, I’m hoping to replay those experiences once again, soon. The last shift was pure joy and lasted 10 years.

In a way, everyone is different, because each person has their own unique history and experiences. The factors that go into making each of us are beyond our control to begin with, like where we were raised, our parents and their ideologies, or whether we grew up rich or poor. And then coincidence and chaos theory can have a surprisingly large impact on our lives. Maybe you meet the right person at the right time, and it sends your life in a totally different direction. Once you factor in learning, decision-making, and personal motivation, it starts to be clear how much is going on with any one person. And that makes humanity as a whole seem mind-bogglingly complex.

I am an individual, just like everyone else.

Not having an avatar.

I’m the only one to take the virginity of a couple of boys that are now men. No one can claim that but me!

@Brian1946 How the hell did you do that?

@Brian1946 The fat faceless ghost has come back.

@Symbeline I think I found it when I Googled “blank square”, or I might have created it by using MS Paint.

…oh. So it really is like a ghost. It’s there but like…it isn’t.

Yeah, it’s like some ghost. ;-p

@Mimishu1995 I am rather pale and about 10 pounds overweight, so that’s an accurate description. ;-)

I think it depends on the person’s immediate community and how aware they are of the world around them. Someone in a tight knit religious community might feel different if they are questioning some of the beliefs in that community, but then they log onto fluther and they are just another jelly in a sea of agnostic and atheist jellies. Even within the community they live in their might be other doubters, but they aren’t aware of them, so they definitely might feel different.

I think being young also can contribute to feeling different. Insecurities and low self esteem don’t help. Also, if the person is targeted by bullies, they are further harrassed into feeling like they don’t fit in or are different.

In America (and in other countries) as our society becomes more and more able to speak freely and not be judged, we get to find out that many people think like us, even when we thought no one else did. Or, that others have similar experiences to us.

One example I can think of is new moms being able to say they are exhausted or even going through some post pardum depression. Everyone is supposed to be thrilled about the new baby right? All hearts and butterflies. No, some women, and some men, go through a very rough time when their child is first born, but it was pretty much a taboo to complain or say anything less than how goo-goo ga-ga you were over your baby.

There is a big difference between people who originally stand out and the ones who claim to be ” different and unique”. The latter possibly crave for attention, they like being talked about. The ones who call themselves altogether distinct, are pretty easy to find out in a crowd, as they make their presence pretty obvious because they want to be noticed by everyone. But the same doesn’t happen when we meet the actually ” unique” people.
I don’t arrogate myself to be anything but the modest.

Society really does push us hard to conform with the “normal”. Nonconformists get ostracized or worse. And most of the one’s claiming they are really different aren’t all that different. Hmm, interesting question.