What is so bad about being normal?

Given people crave more and more stimulation nowadays and that their attention spans are declining people tend to see ‘normal’ as boring, and thus ‘bad’.

It’s not bad, but I think straying from the norm requires creativity and intelligence, and people want to be thought of as creative and intelligent. People also want to be special, which doesn’t really go with being “normal.”

Absolutely nothing is wrong with being normal. But many people want to stand out in whatever way they can rather than be considered part of the herd.

Many people consider those that are “normal” as not being able to think for themselves, yet many who are trendy or view themselves as avant garde may be more susceptible to “group think” than they are willing to admit.

I think a lot of this comes out in high school, when everyone is trying to both fit in but also finding their unique personality. Quite frankly, I have met very few truly normal people over the age of 30, by then just about everyone has their little quirks that separate them.

How dare you settle for “normal”. Don’t you know we live in a society that insists upon everyone being “special”? And now that “special” is the new “normal”, then that makes the old “normal” pretty “special”.

i see right through your evil plot… i refuse to let you take over the world without me

I think people just want to find a way to take pride in their perceived shortcomings. So claiming to strive to not be “normal” is a common way of taking claim to that.

And, pretty much what @RealEyesRealizeRealLies said.

What is normal or what is not normal? I don’t do much of anything odd or weird or bizarre…anymore…but I would NOT consider myself normal at all. What ia this normal you speak about??

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies . . . don’t get me started on special . . .

… how about “sassy” then?

It’s all down to definition isn’t it? For me, normal is average, monotonous, unremarkable. While there’s nothing wrong with that at all, worse things happen at sea, i’d rather aim higher, for want of a better term.

Nothing.

I know a bunch of parents who would give anything to have their kids be “normal”. It’s a matter of perspective.

What @RealEyesRealizeRealLies wrote. The ideals I wanted to shape my life by were scoffed at by my own parents who were in rebellion of such “sheepish” stuff. Having watched my parents lifestyles burn up and out, I then watched my peers knock themselves out to try and find new/shocking/edgier and rarer ways to express & identify themselves to the point I became a rarity but this time in a good way. Now I am finally valued for my normalness even though some still find it “weird”.

Not a thing. Just as nothing is wrong with not being normal. Normal is a will o’ the wisp, anyway, As you pointed out, normal is constantly shifting.

Nothing’s wrong with being normal. But when you aren’t, a lot of people try to make a virtue of a necessity. It’s more fun to be proud of being different than it is to feel ashamed of it. I spent most of my life being ashamed of being different, so the few moments I managed to feel good about it were precious to me.

My kids ask me if they are normal periodically (actually just today). My answer was, “What’s normal?” I mean that seriously. What is normal to one person is not to another. What is very normal within our family may be abnormal outside our family. It’s a matter of perspective.

Personally, I like it when people stand out.

Nothing Jellybeans

If you hear that all the time, you need to hang out with better people who don’t think so stereotypically. Reminds me of people I knew (briefly) in college. What a bunch of flakes and drama-queens.

The only abnormal I know are things that people can’t do anything about, and decreed as such by society and science.
Otherwise, people like to stand out and be recognized, as this is a form of power. It’s as ancient as we are, from shamans to goths. However, it really isn’t abnormal, for the desire to stand out is, I believe, as natural as taking a piss. Even if you get followed and praised…that’s normal too.
Normalcy seems to be the target though, since it’s easy to use the masses to compare oneself to and therefore define oneself through people’s reactions and ultimately, what one comes to be defined as. (by trying to not be normal) But to me it’s a fallacy (since that happens with normal people constantly)...show me a person who’s naturally as white as snow, actually drinks human blood and doesn’t go to work. Now that ain’t normal.

Normal is pretty nebulous, depending on who you are around it can shift like the changing sand. Some people want to be normal because they see normal as mainstream, what everyone else is doing. They don’t want to be the person with the odd disability, or birth deformity. They want to be normal in order not to be odd.

Other people who are not odd or different who seem themselves in the mainstream do not want to be normal because normal is code for mediocre, plain, boring, no pizzazz. They want to be extraordinary to stand out, so people will notice them and they won’t be just another person in the Gray flannel suit. Per se there is nothing wrong in being normal unless you believe normal to be the realm of mediocrity.

To me normal is when I hangout with someone and at the end of the day I don’t go “Whoa!” for whatever reason. I don’t think anyone is normal in that context.