I sometimes feel like I don't connect with "normal people".

[lightningandsnow]

Most of the people I can relate to have either a mental illness or a past. I guess I have both, in a way, although I do tend to downplay it, because I know there are people who are much worse off. I gravitate towards people who fit under society's definition of "messed up". And they're some of the most amazing people I know. I guess having to overcome obstacles makes you a better person. Something like that. :)

[Forkboy]

1. I don't feel like I connect with anybody.

What's more, I'm pretty sure that I don't want to.

I will say that of the friends I have almost all of them tend to be on the weird side, thankfully. :)

[NightWatcher]

2. no one is "normal". Some just hide their shit better

[Oeditpus Rex]

3. I think it's far more simple:

"Normal" is boring as all hell.

[JitterbugPerfume]

5. yep

vanilla and beige

[Generic Brad]

9. I'm not normal

But yet I'm boring as hell.

If that were interesting, it would be my curse.

[Danger Mouse]

4. You connect with who you connect with.

Nobody is truly 'normal' and everybody has a past. Some people just choose to hide it or play pretend.
If you're happy with the people you connect with, you're doing pretty well, right? :pals:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

6. There's no such thing as normal -

your friends are your normal. That's how relative and elastic the definition is.

So you've got friends. That's all that matters. Comparing them to some imaginary standard goes nowhere.

Enjoy them. Celebrate them. Be happy......................

[femmocrat]

7. Who is to say what is "normal"?

Everyone has some issue, problem, hang-up, whatever. Some of the most "normal"-looking people are the ones with the biggest secrets.

It's more important to find people who you connect with and feel comfortable with. Don't worry about appearances as long as they are basically good people who won't take advantage or hurt you.

:hug:

[SoCalDem]

8. Then it's a damned good thing you found DU

This place is perfect :)

[abq e streeter]

10. I believe it was R.D. Laing (The Divided Self, etc)

who pointed out that so-called "normal" people slaughtered about 100 million of each other in the 20th century. Give me the "misfits" such as myself ( and I guess according to yourself, you) any day... Jack Kerouac: " The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time < Jimi Hendrix: "I want to see and hear everything">, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing,but burn burn burn like fabulous yellow candles exploding like spiders across the stars...".....(on edit, I thought my computer would print a more clear bracket that I thought I was inserting to emphasize the Hendrix line that seems to me to have been saying the same thing Kerouac was at that point....)

[Orrex]

12. R. D. Laing is hysterical on Howard Stern

[latebloomer]

17. That's such a great quote from Kerouac

I once bought a friend one of his books and included that in my inscription.

[EndersDame]

22. that Kerouac quote has always been my favorites . Some other ones to ponder

'Le beau est toujours bizarre!' 'The beautiful one is always strange' -Charles Baudelaire

"I don't want to hear information I know already and I kind of greedy for something that kind of really sparks me off and gets me thinking. And I -- you -- one tends to find that on the outside of the mainstream. There's nothing in there, in the mainstream, that I want in my life. It's tyrannical in there. It's despotic, you know, and I don't want to be ruled by that blandness." -David Bowie

[ismnotwasm]

11. Yeah

I still don't understand your average middle class folks, exactly. Even though technically I are one now. I have to say I've met some great "normals" who are interesting and giving and are non-judgmental, like the young nurse I know who went and volunteered his time in South America somewhere just so he could Do Good. That and learn Spanish.

Anyway, I know what you mean. I like interesting people who've had diverse experiences, or challenges. I call them different drummer types. I'm far more comfortable around them than cookie cutter people.

[Boddingham]

13. Normal people are all messed up.

You've got it backwards. You are great, and they are not. ;)

[CaliforniaPeggy]

14. My dear lightningandsnow...

What I've heard about "normal" people:

If someone looks normal to you, then you don't know that person very well, yet...

You love who you love, and that's a good thing.

:hug:

[Odin2005]

15. I'm the same.

For example, I have a close friend who has limited motor control of her legs and right arm (not paralysis, though, her sense of touch is just fine) because of Shaken Baby Syndrome and thus uses an electric wheelchair to get around, and has some poor judgment issues and dyslexia for the same reason. She is also a rape survivor (I posted about the horrible incident here in the Lounge a few months ago), and also has issues with being staled by an ex-boyfriend who is emotionally disturbed as a result of child abuse.

Another friend of mine has Bipolar I and Borderline Personality Disorder

But I'm a crazy person myself (Asperger's and Bipolar II). so of course I'm going to relate to other crazy people. :)

[Inchworm]

16. Dude

You are like 17-20ish years old. Don't give up on humans yet. Give them time.

I love you.

:*:hug::*

[Juche]

18. Welcome to the club

I can't feel comfortable with people who are terrified of being weird, creepy or abnormal because I've had experiences that have forced me far out of the mainstream. The people I connect to the best have been outside of the mainstream and have to whatever degree they could made peace with it. I can't feel safe surrounded by people who are terrified of or disgusted by personality traits and experiences that I have had to make peace with and learn to accept.

on the plus side, the depth of the emotional connection you can feel with people who accept you as you are and visa verca can be pretty deep. So there is a nice silver lining.

I wish I knew where the fuck I could go to meet abnormal people.

[jazzjunkysue]

19. And coming in here is going to help you with normal people because....

Ok. You got me. I'm stumped.

[Heidi]

20. Everyone worth knowing has "a past." Those who can't relate to people with "a past"

will eventually find themselves very short on interesting friends. Fact of life.

You're doin' it right, lightningandsnow. :hug:

[HopeHoops]

21. I fully understand - hey, you're on DU!

:fistbump: :pals:

Who wants to be "normal"?

[graywarrior]

23. Only people on the planet who understand me are crazies in recovery.

I feel right at home with them and vice versa.

[EndersDame]

24. 'Le beau est toujours bizarre!' 'The beautiful one is always strange'

at least so says Baudalaire

why waste your time with boring normal people ?