Are You Average or Above?

All along when we grow up we get told not to stand out from the crowd. It starts when we are kids and continues well into adulthood. To stand out would mean to be different and when we are different we won’t fit the pre-made templates others like to stuff us into. Unfortunately not many parents have the foresight to tell their kids to dare to be different. This might be one of the reasons why depression is such a huge and rising problem worldwide.

Due to society’s pressures we also tend to stuff ourselves into a ready made template. We pursue an average job, we make average friends, live in average relationships and accumulate average wealth. Never enough to stand out, but also just good enough to keep doing the same -  years after years.

With this blog post I’d like to question this behavior most humans fall into. What defines average in the first place and how can we rise above being average?

I suppose this question can only be answered by each and every one of us depending on our life’s experiences. For a sheep herder in the hills of Turkey average means spending time with his herd, whiling away time while eating basic foods and making sure that none of the sheep get lost or hurt.

For a billionaire’s son average means spending the day shopping, burning up insane amounts of money for pleasure and frequenting the best clubs, restaurants and travel destinations worldwide because that’s what life is all about.

Or is it?…

I think we can safely say that average is different for all of us.

But what makes us stand out from the next person is if we can manage to rise above average and consistently do so by aiming to be better than we can settle for in every endeavor we pursue.

For me rising above my average is and has always been one of my life’s purpose.

What is yours?

Monika