I am lucky enough to live in Austin, Texas, a place where weirdness is lovingly embraced all over, all the time. The freaks, geeks and funk is alive and well, and although the hum-drum of normalcy seems rather elusive around these parts, it still manages to creep into the crevices of both here and everywhere. While this may seem rather harmless, here’s why you should crank up the music and start dancing fearlessly to your own weird and wonderful beat.
Generic is comfortable.
You grow up, go to college, get hitched, have kids, move to the burbs, grow old. This is the play-by-play basically implanted in us at birth like some sort of Orson Wellesian microchip.
The whole concept draws a mental image of cattle farmers herding wide-eyed bison to their demise by the masses. First, we do this. Then we do that. Because that’s just how it’s done. No one asks questions. It’s comfortable.
But for the few souls brave enough to break out of the herd and challenge The Game of Life, something truly wonderful awaits. The greatest minds of our time are the ones who got comfortable with being uncomfortable. They are the ones who rejected society’s expectations. Because let’s face it, we can do better than society’s expectations. We can blow them out of the damn water. You just gotta do it. Leslie Cochran, the famous pink-thong-wearing Austinite, ran for mayor. Jimmy Fallon chose comedy over college. And against all advice, Steve Jobs dropped out of higher education and onto the highway less traveled. And we all know how well that one turned out. Point is, no one ever changed the world or lived a bestseller-worthy life by following the pack.
So break out and do you. Dance weird, wild, and free. Because when you ignore your innate individuality and unique impulses you mindlessly melt into the gen-pop abyss. Take a stand. Listen to your heart. Get excited and follow your weird. Trust it will lead you to something magical.
Your weird tribe awaits.
When you choose to follow your weird, you will likely discover a bunch of other weirdos with whom you can make powerful connections and life-changing relationships.
Dr. Seuss famously said, “We are all a little weird and life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.”
Meeting others with like-minded eccentricities is invigorating. You think you’re as weird as it gets until you realize there’s a whole gaggle of other freaks just as funky, if not more so, as you are. These people are your weird wolf pack. Embrace them. Expand your nest of loving, accepting quirkiness and your soul will runneth over with inspiration and good vibrations.
When you get weird, you get honest.
Everyone is a cool kid nowadays. Visit a trendy coffee shop on the gentrified side of town in the oil-burning hours of any weeknight and you’ll likely be met by a wave of Birkenstocks, crop tops, and vegans. It seems like everyone and their mama is dancing to the same beat.
The thing is, before they hit their tipping point, people believed all those things were weird, too. And now they are plain as Jane. Trends will come and trends will go. But your brand of weird is all yours. It cuts straight to your very core, and that will always be cool. Try not to be so quick to abandon your own weird for the latest trend. Be unabashedly honest with who you are and the soul will smile.
At the end of the day, we’re all a little weird at heart. So if you’re from Austin or Timbuktu, don’t be afraid to zag in a world full of zig. Choose to be different. Choose to be weird. Choose to be anything but vanilla.
Photo by Jake Laub
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Laci Mosier is a copywriter living and loving in Austin, Texas. She and her one-eyed pirate dog, live for exploring and discovering life’s magic. She is most inspired by yoga, running, Kundalini meditation, good books, great jams and even better coffee. Getting lost is where she is most often found. Follow her on the Twittersphere or Instagram.