I was having a conversation with one of my friends this past week about the time when we first met one another. It’s a typical college story, really. You see someone at a party, you bond over something stupid, and at 4 am you end up becoming the best of friends. What he told me was pretty interesting. He said “when I first met you, I honestly thought you were so weird”. I was half-tempted to say “thank-you”, but I held my tongue and we talked more about how we probably wouldn’t have been friends if I was normal.

The monotony of normality is a sickness that has really plagued this generation. I have no time for normal people in my life anymore. I mean honestly, those people who have dulled their lives down to the point of no return have officially been kicked out of my world. I want to speak to people with experiences, not likes on Instagram or a cool Snapchat story. Tell me about the time you got put in handcuffs for running from the cops. Don’t tell me about the time you posted a picture and got over 100 likes. Tell me about your girlfriend that you took dancing and nearly died from dancing all night long. Don’t tell me about the night you spent Face-timing your girl who was literally a mile away.

I preach all the time about how experiences make you who you are. In response to that, if you’ve not had any experiences then who are you? Now I am not saying an experience has to be a backpacking trip around Europe (although cool). I am more talking about experiencing life and making mistakes rather than living vicariously through someone else.

These experiences shape who you are as a human being. Think about if you had never taken that random trip to the mountains for a hike. You would have never experienced life on-top of the world and how would that change you? Imagine if you had never taken the leap into the relationship you are currently in or even in the past. Can you see your life without the person you are with now? Some may say they wish they had never met their current or past loves, but in all honesty the mistakes still shaped you into the person you are today. You would still be making the same mistakes with dating if you hadn’t taken the time and experienced the detrimental effects of dating the wrong person.

In all honesty, those who have made mistakes and those who have gone through things (good or bad), have the best stories… and they are usually hilarious. My favorite story to tell is the time I was in Sorrento, Italy at some random bar called the “American Bar” along with some of my travel companions. Apparently, this bar was called the “American Bar” because karaoke was offered and I took full advantage on a Mulan classic. Now at the time I made a fool of myself and I realized that I cannot sing whatsoever. Nowadays though, it is one of my favorite stories to tell people and a wonderful experience to share with people… and what kind of normal person sings karaoke in the middle of Italy with a random group of individuals to a Disney themed tune?

Personally, that’s what I look for in friends. Someone who is going to amaze me with the kind of life they have had and not the normal “hey, how are you?” that has plagued my ears for basically my whole life. I am tired of conversations that have no meaning to my life. I want a conversation, no matter how short or long, to give me the feeling that you made an impact. I refuse to live my life “normally”. I want to do things people look at and say “wow” or at least “why would you do that”. My goal in life is to recreate the stigma of “normal” into something that I now define as “not normal”. Hopefully, now that you have read this, you too will want to experience life on the “other side” as I call it. This only means those who have lived their life in great abundance of experiences and give me the conversations that I strive to hear daily.