Have you ever seen the Incredibles? If the answer is yes, perfect, let's move on. If it's no, then go watch that and then we'll talk.
In the movie, Syndrome says this: "When everyone's super, no one will be." For the longest time I just brushed this off as a villainous utterance, with the sole desire of causing pain and sadness to the world around- typical bad guy. What I didn't realize is that there is a lot of scary truth to this statement. Allow me to elaborate.
I believe that today's rapid information-exchange and the world of social media take away our "super". Even the most original of thoughts and ideas are spread so quickly, within a few weeks it's considered basic or mainstream. With the power that is given us by social platforms, we have a kind of superpower. The ability to start trends or have pretty infinity knowledge at the press of a (few) button(s)- It's pretty cool! But what if we all have that? What if we're all super?
Life becomes a competition. Who can be the most super. Isn't that sad? We're all so super already, all so beautiful and unique, but we can't stop fighting to be the most super.
Say I decide I really like cacti (which I do), then suddenly I see that they're super "in" now? Why should I stop liking them just to be "ahead of the curve?" That would be ridiculous. I love cacti. They're precious. I plan on keeping mine until I inevitably kill them. Not until I decide they're too mainstream and I need to be more super- come up with a new trend.
I'm not saying I'm immune to this, because I'm far from it. There have been so many fleeting trends that I have been bounced around in like a boat in a thunderstorm.
Today's challenge, to both you and I, is to try and realize that it isn't worth it. We are unique, and there is no such think as more unique than another person.
In my Writing and Research class Freshman year we were learning about how "very" is not a great word to use. What is "very unique?" Unique means one-of-a-kind. No person can be any more or any less unique than another person. Isn't that such a relief? Let's try to be content with ourselves. Find who we our, find our super, our unique- and be okay with that. Embrace it, even. If something you love goes in or out of style, don't abandon it.
We have been given the beautiful gift of not being like any other human on this planet. That is so special in itself. This week let's try to find contentment in that, and stop trying to be the most different. It's a competition we can never win. You're different, I'm different, and forsaking yourself just to try and win at this super-power battle is a waste of the beauty, uniqueness, and spark inside of you. Embrace your super- don't try to change it.
