The prize of mediocrity

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There is so much emphasis during the day to day on blending in, and presenting as normal as possible. While some societal rules are followed just for an ease of communication, there reaches a point where you are just aiming to be palatable for mass consumption. I have struggled with this one continuously... how much effort should be made to assimilate into the crowd, vs no filter at all. Does anyone have any thoughts on this one? I feel like it should land somewhere in the middle, but if it's more of a bell curve then that's just shooting yourself in the foot.

I can't think of a good way to put it, but I know what you mean. It is hard to expose your true self because you're open to ridicule as well as interest.

Is there such a thing as a half-bell curve with sheeple at one end and extreme psychos at the other?

Just do your thing. Whether you make it to "psycho" or not. You only have to try enough that you don't freak people out, or cause a public disturbance without a good reason. That's why we shower, brush our teeth, etc... but we don't have to act like everyone else. And there are plenty of people that do the same to befriend along the way.

It's just been bothering me since Thanksgiving. My dad made a comment about how my son comes across "just like a normal teenager" now. He meant it well, and I can see why he would say that, but it did sting. Gotta love the holidays.

I'd say just try not to blend in. Just do what's comfortable for you, with regards to how far you can get.

You're probably not going to blend in anyway, so why waste the energy doing so?

I guess I've always taken the opposite route within reason. Dying my hair rainbow colors* and making no effort at all to follow most social norms have basically been my thing since I was a pre-teen. I was blessed to have a liberal mom that didn't really give a s**t about what was normal.

*some might say that I was trying to fit into a particular group by doing that, but I was the first in my school to dye their hair and I didn't have any friends really.

Having very few friends is sometimes tough, but knowing that my family and friends accept me as ME has no doubt lifted a lot of burdens off of my shoulders that I might have otherwise had.

Start with NT interactions, then move closer to your natural state as the relationship develops. In theory, eventually somebody will accept you the way you are.