It’s Okay to be Different

Look at the world all around you, and what you will see in nature are a variety of beautiful things. There are sunrises and sunsets, the blue ocean and the blue sky, deep waters of the ocean and the infinite vastness of deep space. Viewed from skyscrapers hundreds of feet up, there are cities lit in manmade light, and in the quiet of nature, wherein light pollution does not touch Earth’s magnificent midnight sky, there are grand displays of celestial bodies, providing just one more example of decoration to a universe that is far from lacking in that facet of existence.

If one desired, on the subject of life’s innumerable varieties, volumes of writings to dwarf even the Harry Potter series could be composed, touching on various lifeforms and other things of nature, so I will stop at the aforementioned. What I will not relent on, however, is an admiration for humanity’s diversity, a thing that is not always appreciated as it should be. In this way, I mean nothing of race, skin color, or ethnic backgrounds (though I find those things as marvelous as any other). What I am targeting is something far more universal, i.e. human behavior.

What I find myself disliking more than anything (on the topic of human behavior) are trends. While we all (myself included) unconsciously adopt things we admire–a style of shoe, jeans, or dress, a sort of music, or a form of writing, just to name a few bullet points on a very long list–it is acceptable–or should be–to forgo the adoption of things we have little to no interest in. On so many occasions, I have been bombarded with statements like “You need to have fun!” or “You need to live!” when it is made known to one that I am not into drinking (alcohol) to get drunk, awkwardly (because I am the most awkward person I know) hanging around a club till closing, joining a random member of the opposite sex (from the previously mentioned club) at the most expensive restaurant in town, or committing to a 6-year car note, when my current car, though not a beauty queen, runs perfectly well, all to impress complete strangers (likeminded to the one from the club). But what happens when one finds oneself uninterested in those things? Should we all do it anyway? And why exactly are we “suppose” to do any of these things? Oh, because celebrities are doing it? Come now, there must be a better reason than that.

What many people like most is the comfort they find in being a part of large numbers. This might explain exactly why there are people paying $1,000 for sunglasses and handbags that they will not be wearing next year because they will have “gone out of style.” Often enough when this sort sees others not interested in the things they are doing, it becomes a worry as if they are losing relevance. If in someway they can even shame another into taking interest in their interests, everything in their world will be right again. 

But I love it when I find someone completely immersed in their own interests, and completely fine that no one else is exactly interested in what they are doing. Oh, she likes to travel, he likes to hunt, she spends her nights writing, he’s passionate about playing the guitar, she’s into photography, his favorite hobby is scuba diving. Again, I love this type, and salute you for being nothing less than you.