Seems like a strange question to ask, doesn't it? "What is Normal?" I'm sure most of us at least have an idea of an answer as well, even though in reality, that answer is rarely so simple. My normal seems to be posting here about once a year, even though I do mean to update Penny's Worth more frequently.
In truth, I've actually had this particular post in mind for quite some time already, it just hadn't seemed ready until I found myself asking that very question and finding myself curious of the answer that I had. We constantly find ourselves looking outward, toward the others around us, when the reality is that it is often inward, within ourselves, that the answer is hidden. That "normal" is much more individual than we give it credit for. We each have our own to some degree.
Perhaps it is something I've known for a long time without realizing it. Perhaps you have as well. Personally, I've always seemed to favor myself as the outcast when it's come to "normal" and have, ironically, found that I have become my version of just that purely out of the habit. Because that is just what it is, in my opinion: our habits of day to day that we do without thinking of it. And yet, we are constantly being told of or seeking it as a connection to one another. How many times have you heard a parent tell a child to "act normal" even if they, in truth, you might not be able to tell them apart from a similar child behaviorly elsewhere?
Even within groups of people, the "normal" does not typically apply to every individual of that group. It reminds me of an interaction I had with some online friends during a Pokemon discord game some time ago. In it, teams of up to three people can battle it out either against randomly spawned AI teams or teams of other players. In this particular battle, we were up against one of the hardest possible AI teams: a named team called Team Charm. We had a particular rivalry against Team Charm priorly, and up to this point, had been unable to defeat them on our server. We were running type advantage counters, as I would say would be typical of players of this game, and were still coming up short. The thing was, countering my opponents was not "normal" for my style of play, I was much more accustomed to absorbing hits off of allies or playing the game to more outlast the opponents rather than defeat them quickly. The trick of it was, my character I had the most experience doing so had a type disadvantage against Team Charm, so I was urged against bringing him, for fear it would quickly become a 2 versus 3 game if I had done so. My counterpoint was that, in bringing him, I could guarantee the focus on myself, and hopefully buy my partners enough time to take the most powerful member of their team out and ensure our victory. Because that was "normal" to me. I wasn't expecting to survive to the end of the fight. I simply wanted to buy them as much time as I could, because I was practiced at doing so.
Was it the choice that gave us the win that day? Truthfully, there are so many other factors that I don't think I could make that call. What I do know is that, despite putting myself at that disadvantage, I felt more confident than I had the previous attempts. Perhaps that is what "normal" should be. The choices that give us confidence in our actions, whatever they are. And what that is... well, that's not for me to say for anyone other than myself. We decide our own normalcy, even if it's rejecting normalcy
Just a Penny's Worth of Thoughts, for those typical and atypical alike.
