Are you prepared to allow yourself to be weird?

Weird – different from everyone else around

Weird – saying what’s not immediately understood

Weird – having a quite different point of view

Weird – being prepared to confuse, be confused, in pursuit of some deeper understanding

Weird – turning what’s assumed on its head

Weird – showing people what’s in the background, unseen

Weird – pointing out what people think is ‘normal’ but is actually crazy

Being actually weird (as opposed to just being different or in opposition) is most difficult when we’re young, when we’re still trying to figure out how to fit in.

But as we grow, I think we can afford to start to let our weirdness come out. Because, behind all our protestations, we’re all much more weird than we’ll ever let on. And our determination to appear normal (which just means the same as everyone else) is a way of holding back much of what we have to bring, much of what we have to see, and much of what we could change for the better.

The roots of the word weird are associated with turning, and with becoming: with bringing out what’s already becoming the case.

So being weird is, in the end, being one who is prepared to bring what you actually see, and actually think, and actually feel, instead of the socially acceptable version that will keep everyone happy, or everyone numb.

And our organisations, institutions and society could certainly do with a lot more of that.

Photo Credit: Alexis Gravel via Compfight cc