WHY BEING WEIRD IS UNDERRATED BY NICK CHAGIN

“Normal”. I hate that word. It’s so bland. So unattractive. So boring. But on a campus where anything out of the norm is judged, I hear and see it far too often. I believe normalcy is the bane of creativity. We stick to the norm out of fear of being judged. Normalcy inhibits our creativity. Weird encourages creativity.

I have actively tried to be myself as much as possible this year. Have my own fashion style. Start my own trends. Say weird lingo. And just generally do more things that are out of the norm. Last semester, I went to a high school stereotypes social. I was going to be an emo but I wanted to do something I knew the other emos would be too scared to do. (Please see blog picture). I wore creepy white face makeup with some eyeliner.

All my friends said “are you going to the bars with that on?!?” All of them were concerned for me out of fear that I would be judged because I look weird and different. I said, “hell yeah I am.” I got more laughs, smiles and pictures from friends that night. They were surprised to see me doing something they simply didn’t expect.

So let’s not worry about being ourselves. My life has been so much more fulfilling since I began doing what I want without fear or care of judgment. So do things that scare you. Judgment is so overrated. Being weird should not be so underrated.