Different

I started bringing my own bags to the grocery store before I was married, so we're talking at least 26 or 27 years ago. It was such an unusual thing to do, I had more than one cashier put my groceries into my bag, and then put that bag into one of the store's bags. Now stores encourage you to bring your own.

When I graduated from high school, I felt burnt out. I decided not to go directly to college. Instead, I took off a year and spent the time doing things like drawing, taking walks, thinking about life, learning to juggle, and simply learning who I was and what I wanted out of life. It wasn't easy. My father was very unhappy with my choice. But I think the time I had to decompress helped me to feel ready to enter college. These days, it is acceptable to take a year off before college.

It isn't easy to do what is different. I find it funny to think I was always the kind of kid who tried to blend in, to disappear into the crowd. I didn't want to stand out, because out meant the possibility of ridicule. Yet as a teen and adult, I have always done things a bit different. Not for attention, but because I considered the matter and decided it was the right thing to do. Whether I decide to garden without pesticides and herbicides, recycle and reduce waste, or homeschool my children, I try to make each decision mindfully and purposefully. 

I'm not perfect, far from it. I hope no one envies my life, because I improvise a lot as I go along. All I want is to live each day to the best of my abilities and try to improve myself a little bit more. It is what I want my children to learn from me so they might be less afraid to do something different. Someday our different might be the new normal.

If you think you are different, congratulations. It's possible you are living on the cutting edge. Everyone else will catch up eventually. And by then you'll be doing something else different.