What is 'normal'?

What is ‘normal’?

According to Google dictionary ‘normal’ is ‘conforming to a standard; usual, typical, or expected’ (adjective). It is a simple to understand definition but what I have often wondered is why some people use ‘normal’ as a description when talking about others.

How is this applied to people?

For most things ‘normal’ can refer to averages in humans, like height, but it is too subjective to be applied to other parts of life, like daily routine or behaviour.

There are social norms (Google dictionary - the unwritten rules of behaviour that are considered acceptable in particular social groups or cultures) that could be applied as a measure of ‘normal’ for human behaviour. However, there are issues with this. The first is that they cannot be applied to all aspects of life, like personality, hobbies or interests. A second problem is that social norms vary across the world.

Labelling things as ‘normal’ or ‘not normal’ is often used as a way of judging people, through labelling hobbies, interests, styles or likes as ‘normal’ or ‘not normal’, when what is happening is just a personal opinion being placed onto others. This leads to people being judged and their likes said to be ‘not normal’.

This brings me back to my question - What is ‘normal’?

In my opinion, ‘normal’ is a subjective thing that is often used as a method of othering things that are different to what you know or like.

My experience

I have spent a lot of time struggling with the idea of being ‘normal’. Most of this comes from my OCD. OCD is a mental health condition where a person has obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviours. Although OCD is not an uncommon condition, for me it can often feel quite isolating. 

A lot of my OCD revolves around checking things, like switches or that I haven’t left things behind when leaving a place. This can often make me feel out of place or ‘not normal’ for people my age. Especially when I am out I am always aware that people may find my habits ‘not normal’ and I worry about judgement from others.

‘Being normal is a concept’ is a phrase I started using to help with this feeling.

Being normal is a concept

I first wrote this phrase when my OCD was developing and had it set as my phone background along with one of my photos. There were 2 main reasons for this. The first was that it would be one of the first things I would see in the morning and would stay in my mind throughout the day. The second was so that if I was anxious throughout the day I could use my phone to distract myself and that quote would be there to reassure me.

The products I created around this were designed to be everyday items that you can carry around and use to reassure yourself throughout the day.

What I hope for

I hope that everyone who reads this will be reminded that being perceived as ‘normal’ or not by other people does not matter (it is their problem not yours) and that you should just aim to be yourself, be kind and be confident!