My whole life I have grown up thinking I was simply “average.” I’m not skinny but I’m not fat; I’m not interesting but I’m not boring; I’m not smart but I’m not dumb.
I’m somewhere right in the middle with no features that distinguish me from the rest of the crowd. I’m just an average looking girl from an average town, earning average grades at an average university. But honestly, that's okay.
Being called “average” has come to imply that you are boring, basic, typical etc. No average person is praised or appreciated for the little things they do that may seem like big accomplishments to them. Wow, you lost 10 pounds? That's great, it took you long enough to reach a healthy weight… Oh, you graduated high school? Well, that's normal, congrats on reaching a milestone that 90% of the U.S. population reaches.
People think that if you’re average, there is nothing extraordinary about you. But that’s not true. Inside every so-called “average” person there is a unique soul that no one could replicate. The fact is that the majority of us won't accomplish something exceptional that will leave us remembered a long time after we die, and even though that may be hard to accept, there's nothing wrong with that. I’m not saying you shouldn’t strive to be the best, but you should strive to be the best that you can be, not the best in terms of the people around you.
Now you may ask, "Well then what's the point of even living?" and to that, I ask you, who are you living for? Are you living for yourself or are you living for society? Being average doesn't define your self-worth and it shouldn't define how happy you are. Just because you may be "average" doesn't mean you have to live an average life. You always have the opportunity to discover more about yourself by trying things without the fear of failure. On a daily basis, we are faced with extremes. We say things like "I just heard the funniest joke" or, "I just saw the saddest video" but honestly, that probably wasn't the funniest joke you've ever heard or the saddest video you've ever seen. It was probably just average, but for a second you were able to appreciate how special it was in its own way.
In our culture today, we believe that we were all meant to do something truly exceptional. However, this idea really contradicts its self because if everyone was doing something extraordinary, extraordinary would really just be average then. We need to stop belittling the so called “average” accomplishments of others because each person reaches these accomplishments in their own remarkable ways. Sure, in the grand scheme of things, getting accepted into college or passing all your finals may not seem as big of an accomplishment as Beyoncé winning a Grammy, but you should still be proud of yourself. Your experiences and the simple pleasures you get from laughing with a friend, doing well in school, or reading a good book are anything but "average."
So here’s to being average, typical, normal, common, or basic. It's time for averageness to become the new extraordinary.
