What makes someone normal?
At its core, normality can be thought of as being average, typical, or standard. A perfectly normal person would be the average of all humans around the world, or more specifically, the average person within your country, city, or social circle. Normality can exist at many levels.
This also means that normality is relative. What’s considered normal in one context might seem unusual in another. While you might use a fork to eat, someone else might use chopsticks. Both are normal within their own cultures but can appear unusual when viewed from the outside.
So what does it mean to be strange or unusual if normality itself is relative?
It means that strangeness is also contextual. If everyone around you uses chopsticks and you use a fork, you might be seen as unusual. But in a different setting where forks are the norm, the opposite would be true.
Strangeness, then, is simply a deviation from the norm. It measures how far someone is from the average within their specific context. Every culture has its own threshold for what is considered normal and what is not.
Normality is what the majority accepts. Strangeness is what falls outside that boundary.
When you travel, you start to see just how flexible these boundaries are. You witness different ways of living, thinking, and being. What once felt strange begins to make sense. You realize that your definition of normal was never universal, just local. The more you see, the wider your threshold becomes, and the more perspectives you can hold.
In truth, nothing is inherently normal or strange. These are just labels we use, shaped by the collective perspective of a group.
If you ever feel like you don’t belong, it might simply mean you haven’t found your people yet.