Sound of Surviving Blog

I saw a quote by Albert Camus the other day that read, “Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal.” I’m not sure if I interpreted it correctly or not, or even if I am now. I was thinking at first, about how much I could relate to that, as a young adult living with chronic medical conditions, I spend a lot of time and energy trying to be like everyone else, to fit in, to be “normal” (whatever that is). But then I started wondering if maybe he meant it as a bad thing, (though I’m not positively sure), meaning we shouldn’t expend all of our time and energy just to try to fit in and be like everyone else around us. We aren’t everyone else, we’re us, uniquely and exclusively us. There is no one just like you, and there is no one just like me. In Ephesians 2:10, we read the words, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” You see, God created us each as his own masterpiece, and only we can accomplish the things he set out before us to do. We often think that different is bad, because it means not normal. But shouldn’t we aspire to be more than just “normal,” to do more than just “fit in”? If we only focus on being like everyone else, how will we ever be able to do the things that God planned ahead of us for us to achieve? We complain about not wanting to be different, about wanting to do what everyone else is doing, but sometimes, what makes us “different”, is exactly what makes us unforgettable. We aren’t put on this earth to be just like everyone else. God uniquely created each and every one of us, and each person on this earth is irreplaceable. The plans that God has for us are not the plans he has for everyone else. There will never be someone else with our minds, with our exact imprint. Not wanting to be different and wanting to be “normal” is something I struggle with daily. But I remind myself of Rowan Atkinson’s words, “I wasn’t here to fit in – I was here to leave a mark by being authentically me.” Others won’t remember you for how much you were like everyone else, or for how normal you were, but for how authentic and genuine you were. So why try to fit in, when you were born to stand out?