Take a minute and think about all of the things you define as “normal.” We may not necessarily call it “normal,” but anything that is referred to as “typical,” “average,” “standard,” or “the norm” works too. In our world, we tend to categorize things into two boxes: Things are normal or abnormal, typical or atypical, average or unique; the list goes on and on. In doing so, we pigeonhole ourselves into these two categories.

Think about it - how many gray areas do you think would arise within these black and white distinctions? How many times is your “normal” different than another person’s “normal,” due to different cultures, geographies, beliefs, or what have you? This notion of “normal” that we hold and impose is really a “supernormal” in essence.

No one person has every quality that every single person deems “normal.” It’s just not possible. With over 7.1 billion people in the world, we have over 7.1 billion versions of “normal.” Even generalizing it to a societal level, we have almost 200 countries with over 200 societal “norms.” No one person could feasibly embody all of those characteristics -- we are all different, and that’s okay.

Dating all the way back to pre-K, we are taught that everyone is different. In fact, our differences are what give us advantages and a competitive edge later on in life. College applications? You need to show how different you are from the thousands of other applicants. Interviews and resumes? You need to make sure your resume really stands out because of its uniqueness. We are taught from day one that being different is good and absolutely an important aspect of our lives. With this life lesson, a double standard arises when we classify things as “normal” or not. How can we do that when we expect everyone to be different and unique, and to have a different set of “norms”?

In reality, what makes us normal is our differences, and the sooner we begin to embrace that idea, the sooner we will be to really fully understanding that life lesson.