I was talking to my awesome friend the other day and she exclaimed about how normal I was, working, cleaning my house, taking care of my shit and not having any major hang ups (like addictions). It’s funny because no one would have used that term for me as a teenager. I was outside the norm. I expected to remain where I was forever. I disliked the norm. My fishnet and velvet wearing, dyed-hair self was more than a little bit pretentious and arrogant. Of course, I was a teenager.
And I’m not now. In those years, I have done a lot of things but perhaps the most important is that I have grown up. I don’t know if that phrase quite explains it. To be blunt, I have shot up when it comes to maturity and personal responsibility. I have shot straight past most of my peers (by age) and this was a fact that my awesome friend took the time to remind me. I am a normal person, living my normal life at only 24 years old. 24. I know. If you forgot that I’m only 24, you’re not alone. People do it all the time. I do it all the time.
But here I am, nonetheless. As if to further prove my point, the fact that someone can call me normal is something that makes me smile. It’s a compliment–if not a little amusing, considering I’d never expect to be here of feel that. It’s hard to believe that what I want now is so similar to what my mother has when, all I wanted a few years ago, was to be anyone but her.
Growing up required me to reconcile what I want with what the rebellion inside me raged. And a lot of that raging rebellion didn’t coincide with what I truly wanted. I was struggling with what I thought I should want. I have come out in a more confident way and I am much more comfortable in my skin because of it. I feel like I finally know myself and I have accepted that what I really want is sometimes simple, normal–and there’s nothing wrong with that.
It’s not that I would ever turn down an extraordinary life but I have come to realize that it’s not necessary, that I don’t need something that is unique from everyone else in order to be happy. I guess that makes me normal.
Being ‘normal’ doesn’t mean you can’t be extraordinary! There’s nothing wrong with behaving responsibly and growing up.
Also? No one is unique. There is always someone out there who is similar to them, who thinks like they do. It’s all been done before.