Whilst lying in bed this morning and casually bemoaning to the entire world - via those increasingly growing medias that are Facebook and Twitter - that I had to get out of bed and actually do some work, it was brought to my attention that “conventional” jobs had already started (conventional in this case merits those inverted commas as anyone who knows the sister involved would confirm that she is far from conventional in many other ways) and I realised just how lucky I was to have my job.
I’m not conventional. There is nothing “normal”, “typical” or “standard” about me. If truth be told it’s taken me a long time to realise that this is a good thing. Sometimes it has been hard to be different, to have a group of friends with whom your only similarity is a school memory, sometimes not even a good one, or a shared age. I confess I am one of those people who is notoriously hard to find a similarity with, having something to do with the way in which my world spans anywhere from 800 to 15 years in the past. It is true, I struggle to accept that the millennium has turned and certainly can’t come to terms with the fact that we are over eleven years in to it.
Why do I consider such remote people as friends? Because we have a shared experience, even if it is one in which I played a minor role. Understatement is an art. Just as in décor and design, subtlety is the best approach to life. It is a skill to be below the consciousness of people but eternally present, I’m not sure what it’s value is unless it is just to further one’s people watching skills - as afore mentioned - but it is a skill that I have become adept at. Of course, I am not understated in every sense - my hosiery is considered rather obvious - and for the first time in the 25 years of my life I have become a trend setter with my insane leg wear. I’m very proud of my collection of tights in much the same way as most “normal” women love their shoes!
There is a human need to belong - that is why we have clubs and teams that mean so much to us, whether they are school teams, fan clubs, or community groups each of us have belonged to something at sometime. Belonging, and that need to belong, is one of the things that make us human. Knowing our place in such a group, team or environment is trickier. I’m from a family that is so tight-knit we’re waterproof, so there has never been a problem of belonging in this group, but knowing where I fitted in to other groups and the world in general has been a little harder.
You may not see the connection here, but it was not until I took a backseat in the procedures of the world that I realised where I really fitted in. For fifteen years I have been looking out for where my place in the world was, trying to capture that sense of belonging that so many of the “popular” kids at school had but so often had to compromise whatever principles they possessed to get there - I still hear it talked about today - with no subtlety or understatement. But I was searching too hard. Whenever I drive across the Caithness landscape I can achieve that incredible warm glow that belonging gives. I don’t go out looking for it now, it comes to me.
Today’s advice states:
Today- Is the first day of the rest of your life! Let everything up to this point serve as practice in the march toward your goals & dreams!
And now, on my list of goals I can tick off “Find my niche”. I have the world’s most incredible job, helping people to become tomorrow’s musicians and strive to reach their potential. Of course there have been tumbles and uncertain stretches along the way, but it’s all been good practice.
Go out; find where you belong, but don’t alter to blend in with the crowd. Be yourself and be proud of your unique way of viewing the world and eventually the world will become what you want it to be and a space for you will open up. Take it from the one with the voice of experience.
Welcome to the first day of the rest of our lives!
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