There are many aspects of life that can be especially tricky, an endeavour to navigate through or a challenge to be won, but there is an overall aspect of life that can make or break who you are, that defines your future and takes that extra leap of faith in order to achieve greatness and fulfilment in the future. Most of all, it means that you are always true to yourself, and you choose the right way no matter how difficult that may be at times.
Being different from the crowd is something that is frowned upon from a scarily young age; not following the norms and social expectations can quickly lead to difficult friendships, rocky relationships and sometimes being shunned by peers. Sounds fun, right?
But why is being different so bad? Why is individuality such a bad thing in life?
Creativity is something that is abundant in children; they can play games and think of stories using some toys. Their imagination conjures up names, scenarios and play can last for hours. Being spontaneous is something children are far better at, as they are less conscious of their surroundings, and what is deemed good or bad. The freedom of childhood is lost as you grow up, move on through adolescence and become an adult.
Being different is a good thing. I was reading Frugal Wood’s 11 Ways To Be A Frugal Weird And Love It yesterday and it got me thinking – why are humans not more proud of who we are? Why do we shy away from revealing our true selves, and what we really want from life? A quote that sums this up from that post is:
Frugal weirdos first and foremost do not care what you think about them….Way too much money is spent by people who labor under the delusion that other people give a hoot about their car, clothes, house, or snow shovel.
Why do we care so much about what other people think? Because we’re told it is important to impress others. Yes, it is important to make a good first impression and to work hard to achieve our dreams, but apart from that, it shouldn’t be important to worry about what everyone else thinks about us. The people who you go to school and college with, the vast majority of the time, will not be people you associate when you leave. Work colleagues are (mostly) just that; people you work with and who you hopefully get along with, but that is it.
I read The Millionaire Next Door after reading about it on various blog posts. I was intrigued to know about the lives of the rich, about how they do things differently, and what things they bought with their wealth. I wrongly assumed that they had expensive tastes; large houses, big cars, the luxury holidays and designer items. Instead, I read about these people who do just the opposite; they live in modest houses, drive relatively old cars, have frugal ways and don’t waste their money. They embrace being different, even if it’s a far cry from what people expect. In fact, most of the people interviewed for the book, from the outside, wouldn’t look like a millionaire would look. Although what is that? They don’t dress in flashy outfits; their clothes are modest and even a bit worn.
Being different means that you are more likely to think outside the box, that solving problems is a little more than a game. Creative and individual people need to be strong willed to be able to stand out from the crowd. It is much easier to just blend in and do as you are told, to get along with everyone and don’t upset the crowd. It’s easier to go along with everyone else, because it doesn’t make you an individual. It doesn’t make you have to challenge the norms of society and offer different ideals. Imagine if nobody challenged anything? The world would be a pretty boring place. You cannot inspire and influence people if you are just one in a crowd.
In our journey to a more simple life, we are going against the grain. We have friends who don’t understand how we are so “lucky” with where we are, as if it has happened by chance. Me and my husband have made sacrifices to get to where we are, but we think that are valid and worthy sacrifices in order for a better life. You cannot live your life fully if you are pretending to be something you are not. Be free to be who you are; you are not made to be a copy of someone else. You’re a unique individual, embrace it!
Embrace being different for a better life. Chose your own circumstances and build a better future. You deserve it.
Do you agree? Why is it so hard to be different? I’d love to hear from you in the comments!
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I agree with you. I watch my two year old daughter playing and dancing without a care. But if someone walks in on us playing, I have to fight every instinct in my body from stopping. Obviously I do still care about what others think of me. But I try not to let that stop me from making real life decisions that I think I need to be happy. I’ve managed to make some inconventional decisions in my life and I’m very happy that in those times, I embraced being different.
Wonderful post and I completely agree. We’re working towards living more self-sufficiently and lots of people don’t see why we would put ourselves through the work and effort to live this way, but our values are different to theirs and that’s ok. Very insightful comments!
Thank you 🙂 I think your comment about values is spot on – we just have different values to other people 🙂
Perceptions are everything… so many people assume that “rich” people spend all over the place, when really, truly they do not. We make VERY healthy incomes, but still have to tell ourselves no all the time and delay spending. If we spent everything we brought in, our future would look pretty dicey!
You are right about perceptions – the assumption that rich people spend money all of the time is often complete wrong. It makes a big difference to keeping wealth once you’ve had it 🙂
I still care too much what people think, but I’ve definitely accepted being different over the last few years.
I have a disability that limits what I can do. I used to fight against and try to be “normal.” Man, that was exhausting.
Now I just roll with it and shape my lifestyle to accommodate the limitations I have. It means we don’t go out very much, but then again, that saves a lot of money.
Well said, Nicola. I’m such a fan of unbridled creativity in life. I think it’s a wonderful thing when people live according to what they really want out of life, and not what they think society wants from them. Thank you so much for the shout out too!
You are welcome! I love your blog and the journey you are embarking on 🙂