Comments: SS On What's "Normal"
Normal is a relative term. It's normal to want to "fit in" with the crowd. It's also normal to want to stand out from the crowd. It's normal to use your real name in the blogosphere, and it's normal to use a fake name. The happy families out there that appear normal may very well be having some of the biggest problems you could imagine behind closed doors. Embrace the things that make you different from everyone else, those are wonderful things! Accept yourself and love yourself for who you are, and, as you said "like attracts like" -- you will find someone who accepts and loves you too.
Posted by onlylife at July 16, 2007 09:01 AM
"If they don’t run then, they run like hell when they find out I am a suicide survivor.
Normal people – I don’t understand them, yet I long to be one. It’s like high school where you look at the popular clique and long to fit in there. And you know you won’t. And maybe that is why, even though I admire those in the blogosphere who can use their real names without qualms, while I write under a fake name or my initials because I haven’t had the strength to further my recovery."
Thanks for posting this, Philip. It's good to read things from others I can relate to.
Posted by Marissa Miller at July 16, 2007 12:03 PM
I think it's more than a baby step here. Sounds like a brilliant author found their voice again,which in fact may never have been silenced, it just needed a place to start writing it out again.
I look forward to part 3.[please?]
Posted by Stephany at July 16, 2007 07:00 PM
Societies can be crazy too, just like individuals. It may be true that in the United States it's easier to fit in being a sociopath than being bipolar and schizophrenic, but it's probably not so true in many other places. Countries that emphasize the individual over the group, and that tend to exclude people from the mainstream for lots of different reasons, seem to be especially comfortable places for sociopaths.
Inclusive, group-oriented countries are probably easier to live in for people prone to psychological distress. A book I once read, "The Sociopath Next Door", said that it had been estimated somehow that about one out of every 100 persons in the U.S. could be considered to be sociopathic, while in Japan the rate was something like one out of every several thousand (if I remember correctly). I believe the rates in most of the other major countries were lower than in the U.S., also.
So it's as much a problem with the society as with anything else. The "rugged individualism" attitude seems to make psychological problems worse. We blame too many things on individuals, especially on individuals who don't mindlessly conform to the most common ways of thinking.
Robert Frost once said in a poem: "Forgive, oh lord, my little jokes on thee - and I'll forgive thy great big one on me." That seems to be somehow relevant to all this.
Posted by Kent at July 16, 2007 08:21 PM
I think Kent makes a good point--if anyone appears non-conforming, or eccentric etc. they can get classified as mentally ill. What happened to the word "personality"? I know my favorite people are ones that others might consider quirky, eccentric artists and go-getters.I wouldn't call 'em abnormal, I'd call them interesting and living life the way most long to do. Expressing themselves creatively, and feeling comfortable in their own skin. Typical members of society see these personalities as different than themself, therefore labeling us as non-conformists and weird or mentally ill.
In a college sociology class the Prof gave us all a quiz about conformity one day. There were about 60 people in that class, and I landed in the 1% of non-conformists. I walked out of there thanking God I wasn't just another sheep following the herd.
Posted by Stephany at July 17, 2007 04:33 AM