Stay Weird

We’ve been coded to want acceptance from others, it’s how we survived in tribes for so long. It was important to fit into the social circle because if you didn’t, they’d kick your ass out and throw you into the wild. Much hasn’t changed since then, except the fact that the tribes are too big to work with now. We’re tripping over ourselves trying to keep our family, friends, and strangers on the internet happy. Most of us have a 99.9% success rate, but that 0.1% has us feeling like monsters. Wanting to be a photographer over a DoctorLawyerEngineer seems like an impossible hurdle. It’ll hurt beyond belief to get kicked out of the family, feeling ostracized, and having to figure out how to take care of yourself. Being the only unmarried friend makes us question what’s wrong with us, because either we’re messed up for not wanting what they want, or we’re too pathetic to deserve it. Sharing a Humble The Poet quote on our IG might make others jealous of how handsome we are, and that’ll cause a backlash in the comments. There are endless reasons why doing what we want will put us in poor favour with others, so we stay in line and play the game, envying others for doing it so effortlessly (well, at least that’s what it looks like from what they post). We can only play so long before we pop

You were born to stand out, you were designed to add something new to this world, and when you realize that, you’ll realize that chasing the acceptance of others only cages you in. History shows how many of the most important thinkers and artists were criticized and demonized while they were around, only to be celebrated later. Fitting only gets us lost in the crowd, let’s follow who we really are. We don't have much if we gain it being someone else.
Stay your weird self.