What happens when you see things differently.

 

 

If you are a brand owner, regular person or super-hero that thinks outside of the box then you will already find the above cartoon relatable.  It can get lonely out here.

I didn’t set out to be contrary, in fact if the truth be known I spent a good deal of my thirties crying to myself for being so God Damn frustrated that I couldn’t just fit in.  I wanted the big bucks, I wanted people to give me awards for being awesome, I wanted to WIN but I just couldn’t get my backside inside.  I just wasn’t able to stop saying ‘why?’ and ‘how’ for a while so that I could enjoy going with the flow and take the pressure off. I was tired. I still am.

As a thinker (I’m not saying I’m a good one) I have never found a box that can accommodate all of me.  Not a political, religious, family,  professional, friends or music box and that has at times left me feeling lonely and like I’m just awkward, wrong or somehow stupid. 

I’ve since come to terms with my reality and the way I see the world and can quite happily make judgement calls on information or scenarios and  ‘let things go’ that don’t need to be pedantically pursued.  This means I no longer feel compelled to comment on every bit of non-science, bias or fear mongering that I see OR to keep my comments to myself while slowly dying on the inside – not healthy.  But what my new found insight doesn’t mean is that I’ve stopped trying and caring.  In fact today, more than ever I find myself in a world that is going in what I consider to be the wrong direction fast and with its eyes shut.  I am NOT prepared to follow.  I see the dumbing down of all types of media including ‘new’ media which is just as prone to bias and blatant agenda pushing as any other form.  Take for example ‘Get-up’ a crowed sourced political web initiative that allows people to publish their own petitions and gain traction for ideas that go against the dominant political grain.  I like some of the stuff that is published there and I have to thank the site for drawing my attention to the horrors of the proposed development of a coal port on the Great Barrier Reef and the persistence of coal seam gas companies in environmentally sensitive areas but it isn’t all good. On Wednesday night I got an email from them that contained a questionnaire to canvas my views on issues in the lead up to our next election.  I started answering and soon found that the questions were making me feel angry.  They were putting me into a box that I didn’t identify with, were making assumptions about all of me.  My trust and respect for Get Up has wained a little after that… Now I can’t even belong to the ‘alternative’ club without it making me want to scream ‘no, you DON’T know me’.

I’m sharing this with you guys now as after just spending the morning countering yet another cosmetic ingredient scare story I’m sure that some of you who might have read that are now feeling distinctly ‘outside’ of the majority and I don’t want you to feel that is a bad thing.

Yes we might get ‘locked out’ of various conversations, groups, organizations or cliques because of our inability to toe-the-line but that’s ok. The only place we need to work hard to fit into is ourselves.  Warts and all because this is where our strength comes from.