What is Normal?

Sheri Paulson

The dictionary describes normal as

conforming to the standard or the common type; usual; not abnormal; regular; natural.

serving to establish a standard.

Psychology.

1. approximately average in any psychological trait, as intelligence, personality, or emotional adjustment.
2. free from any mental disorder; sane.

 

 

Who decides what normal is?

 Deciding what is normal is usually based on statistics. A large group of people are tested, and normal is the result 95% of those people show. The number of people that are tested and who these people are will affect the results, so careful consideration needs to be given to these issues. (Who decides what is normal? — Science Learning Hub)

This doesn’t seem right. Where does this large group of people come from?

 

Normal is what society wants us to be, because a large group of people got together, and their set of values placed on a bell curve said that this is what is normal.  What this large group of people fail to capture is the variation in all of us.  Our bodies are all different. What is normal tall and skinny, with blonde hair and blue eyes?  Is it because that is what they truly believe that our bodies should look like or what they want us to look like? How about the way we behave? Is being quiet and shy normal or being outgoing? How about loud and obnoxious? What behavior is normal, and is that normal for every situation you’re in?  Normal changes with the situation, don’t it? Do we show others our true normal side?  I don’t unless I trust you. The thing is, we all put on the “face of normal” because, truth be told that I think that being “abnormal is normal,” diversity is normal, not fitting into the box is normal, and being yourself is normal.  The picture of normality that society places on us is not how most people are.  It’s like we are playing a part in a play, puppets on a string, playing the role that a large group of people told us we must play.  We are conforming to a standard that society has placed on us. We have no say in what role we want to play. For us to be happy and be ourselves, we need to break the mold that they have put on us, break out of the box, and show the large group of people and society that being normal is being a diverse people with differences in bodies, minds, and perceptions and that being normal is being who we are with nothing holding us to the standards that society has placed on us. Dare to step out of the box and be abnormal, and you will find that there is a larger group that are abnormal too.