How Are You Different?

In my last blog, I asked the question, "Do you want to be Normal?" Most people, I expect, would answer "yes," to that question, because they have been programmed to believe that to be "normal" is to be a sane, functioning person in society.

I have posited that to be "normal" is to be more-or-less the same as the majority of the people you know. Our programming tells us that it is not safe to be different; if you are "different" others will shun you.

Those individuals who cannot help but be different, will confirm that this is indeed a good possibility. So, why should you go out of your way to become different?

Firstly, we are all different in various ways; in general, in order to be acceptable we either deny these differences, or keep them to ourselves. Others on the other hand, go out of their way to flout their "different-ness."

Another method is to explore who you really are underneath all the programming and indoctrination you have been exposed to throughout your life.

Many people have something called a "mid-life crises." This was probably first expounded upon by C. G. Jung, who speculated on possible physical causative factors, which brought about psychological changes. He believed that these changes caused men to take on more feminine aspects, and women to take on masculine aspects.

Studies of what-has-come-to-be-called, "a mid-life crises," as happening between ages 40 - 60, question whether this is an actual phenomenon, and suggest that it may be culturally influenced, and have found it might affect around 10-15% of people during mid-life. When experienced, it generally involves a major change in one's life; it may be a change in one's career, marriage relationship, changing one's physical appearance, etc., etc.

It is as though an individual has "jumped the track" their life has been on, and
is trying to regain some kind of new track, causing confusion for everyone around them. For women, this is generally associated with menopause, which is an actual physical change. As the "baby-boom" generation is now going through this stage, there are perhaps millions of people in this country experiencing some form of life-altering desires.

Personally, I believe these midlife-crises events are the result of individuals trying to come to terms with the fact that their lives, like, perhaps, their clothes, do not "fit" them anymore. This can be directly related to their having reached a point where what they have been programmed and indoctrinated to do and be is not who they actually are.

For those experiencing the dis-ease resulting from this dissonance in their lives, exploring what they have accepted as to who and what they "should" be, as opposed to what they in actuality are, is a good place to begin this exploration. What is actually taking place for many, is either a slow, or fast, personal train wreck.

Many people start their trip onto a side track by what they pursue, or don't pursue, in the way of their educations. As I have stated before, the vast majority of colleges and universities are actually glorified vocational schools, giving students an education that will result in a career of one kind or another. The choices made are usually greatly influences by one's family and social/cultural Belief Systems. This is another reason for examining your programmed/acculturated/indoctrinated Beliefs.

Those who do not choose to get a "higher" education, usually end up on a path that is a result of happenstance: he/she is offered a job, joins the military, tries this-or-that, etc. If they are lucky, they happen upon a life track which is fulfilling for them.

If we were to divide people up into various personality types, we might select: artists/creative/inventive people; people who are in service to others; those who are in service to self; individuals who want to be "on stage" and in the public eye; people who are scholars, always learning, thinking and examining; scientific types who want to take things apart and figure out how everything works; others who are hunters/warriors looking for physical challenges, if not in war, in extreme sports challenges; then there are the spiritual ones, who wish to lead lives of contemplation; plus those who wish to rule and have authority over others. Others are combinations of these types.

This list is meant as a way of, perhaps, examining yourself to see if you are one of these types in the way you approach life. Also, it is something you can examine your life against, to see if it fits your personality.

There I leave you today.

Shirley Gallup