Monday, July 6, 2015

Motivational Monday


IF YOU ARE ALWAYS TRYING
TO BE NORMAL,
YOU WILL NEVER KNOW
HOW AMAZING YOU CAN BE.
(Maya Angelou)

There were a handful of times in my life when I tried to be normal, when I tried to fit in. I tried to appease others. I tried to do, say, own what normal people do, say, own. I thought it would be so much easier to be normal. It was often lonely and exhausting on the outside. I wanted the view from the inside. 

I don't know why I bothered. Normal is not an outfit I wear well. Normal was an itchy sweater, socks that wouldn't stay up, too tight pants. I was constantly scratching and tugging and having to hold my breath.  

I don't know how "amazing" I'll ever be, but I'm finally able to just let go, to be myself. In an old NaNo t-shirt and Minion pajama pants, I can be me. I can breathe. 

39 comments:

  1. Great description of normal.

    An old NaNo tee and Minion pajama pants sounds good to me!

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    1. Since it's so hot here in FL, I say we're allowed to go with shorts instead of pants. :)

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  2. Wonderful! I could go with minion shorts and a t-shirt! :) We all need to breathe.
    On a side/somewhat related note, I ran across an old article on micro-fiction today and thought of you. There's this wonderful quote in it: "Micro-fiction, by nature, is defiant." - "The Essentials of Micro-Fiction" by Camille Renshaw http://www.pifmagazine.com/1998/06/the-essentials-of-microfiction/

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  3. I have never been normal, but fortunately most of my friends aren't normal either.

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    1. It's so freeing to have people in your life who you can be your totally non-normal self with.

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  4. I think I missed the normal train a long time ago. :D

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    1. I'm pretty sure there's a big group of us sitting around that train station. :)

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  5. I like the sound of that outfit. I wonder, do we all think we are different from "normal?"

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  6. You're so right. Normal is waaay overrated. Here's to being odd and having fun

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    1. I like the having fun part. We should celebrate our oddness! :)

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  7. I'm sure I might've tried to fit in many eons ago in my childhood, but I've always been the square peg in the round hole. When I became a teenager, I embraced it. I've never looked back. :)

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  8. Great motivational quote. I think I tried to be normal in high school, but thankfully, outgrew wanting to be it. Now, I like being myself. If people find that weird, oh well.

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  9. I love being comfy in my yoga pants and tee-shirt. I don't mind not fitting in with certain people. I just figure they're not my people.
    Susan Says

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    1. When you're with the people who accept you for who you are, it's like you're home. :)

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  10. Being normal is boring! I like being different. Embrace who you are, Madeline, because you're great! :D

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  11. That outfit sounds so perfect. :D
    I always love Maya Angelou quotes and had never seen this one before. Awesome.

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  12. I embrace being abnormal. The whole idea of living your life to a certain degree and in a certain way never set for me. I hated it and while I still struggle in being confident with my choices, it's liberating in it's toughness. Taking the path less traveled is hard. Financially, with family, and socially.

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    1. This is so spot on - "...while I still struggle in being confident with my choices, it's liberating in its toughness." Love it!

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  13. I have at times tried to force myself to fit into a certain mold for the benefit of others. I would convince myself if I tried hard enough, it would grow on me. Well, that didn't work!

    Today I enjoy embracing my quirks much more than I do trying to appease people who I secretly find annoying anyway.

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    1. I think we can only try to convince ourselves for so long before our true natures/selves win out. And thank goodness for that! :)

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  14. Wonderful words from Maya Angelou. I read something of hers at my daughter's wedding. The vision of the minion pajamas made me smile!

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  15. Glad to hear it. Breathing is good for our health :-P I've never been normal either and it hurt trying to fit in when I failed so terribly.

    Anna from Elements of Writing

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  16. I outgrew normal by about my 17th birthday, but then I embraced rebel so hard that I ALSO missed some of the things that were truly me. It is hard navigating this personal identity stuff. Grad school is when I think I finally got comfortable in my skin.

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    1. I always thought - and still do! - that being ourselves should be the easiest thing we ever do in life. Why then is it often so hard? And is it actually hard or do we all just make it that way?

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  17. I've come to the conclusion there is no "normal," Madeline. It's liberating when we realize each of us can just be ourselves.

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  18. That sounds like me in the corporate world. I did not fit into the forest of cubicles, and I suspect I really didn't want to.

    Bravo for being ourselves!

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  19. Here's to pj's. May they always comforting and free around waist.

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