Taking Ownership

We are all weird in our own ways. Some hide it better than others. Some don’t hide it at all.

I find it best to just fess up to things I would otherwise try to hide.

If everyone was open about their particular flavor of eccentricity, the world would quickly become a better place.

Things are deemed weird or taboo due to a perceived lack of participation or discussion. By hiding or denying one’s involvement with something, they are only further contributing to this. People have this bad habit of blindly following each other’s lead — with each person incorrectly believing that the others around them have it all figured out — and what is normal or not is determined purely by observation.

A particular hobby or activity could, for example, be regularly enjoyed by a majority of a population, yet, if they all were to hide it, the remaining minority would still incorrectly believe it to be weird. Worse still, those who did participate would also continue believing it weird, unaware of the others — all around them — who are themselves secretly involved.

It is not until a sufficiently large percentage of society is willing to admit to liking something — a so-called “tipping point” — that it enters the mainstream, and is magically bestowed the attribute normal.

Adding further confusion to the whole ‘how did this happen?’ puzzle, nothing is even gained by hiding these things to begin with. Nobody cares about what you do with your life. The few people who mistakenly believe they care are actually only concerned about what other people might think.

Nobody cares about your oddities, but everyone thinks that everyone else does.

The people who act annoyed or disgusted about something do not themselves even care, either. They are just subconsciously following a script and acting the way they believe they are expected to act, lest they are themselves exposed as being not normal.

When everyone is afraid to be themselves, everyone will instead put on an act. When everyone is acting normal, everyone will be afraid to be themselves.

But there’s a way to break the cycle.

Rarely is a solution to such a universal problem so easy to come by. It’s so simple, in fact, it can be summarized in only two words:

Take ownership.

If you enjoy something, then do it. Do it openly, and do it proudly. Own it.

Nobody’s going to stop you. You will instead serve as inspiration for others to themselves open up.

The people all around you, the ones who blindly follow each other’s examples — these people will see what you do, awe in your boldness and independence, and follow your example.

This problem — that robs joy away from so many people and vilifies so many things — could be eradicated by the actions of a few who are willing to just do what they already want to do.