Embrace The Weirdness!

As I mentioned before (and as you can clearly see from the new banner and new look that I have implemented for 2018), this is the year that I have declared "Be Your Own Best Friend Year"!  It's basically another way of saying that this is going to be the year where I put myself first and taking control of my own destiny in spite of what others try to tell me. 

I'm finished with being a doormat to those who only want to use me for their own selfish needs and then toss me to the side like they would a worn out pair of sneakers.  Instead, I have found that I would rather enjoy my own company and get to understand myself better.  Once I get secure with my big and bad self, then maybe it will give me the confidence necessary to interact with other people better.

(Or, maybe it will make me realize that I'm the only person I can trust to be my true self around.)

Either way, win win.

Anyway, one of the goals that I have for 2018 is to really get into my psyche to understand what makes me who I am, why I have a hard time communicating with people, and for that matter, why I sometimes act like a curmudgeon towards people I do not like, or who I find incredibly frustrating and annoying.

And I suppose one conclusion that I've come up with is the fact that I tend to be one of those "think outside the box" people who more often than not does everything to go against societal standards.  I'm not glued to a mobile phone 24/7, I prefer to write thank you notes instead of typing them out on a computer, and I have opinions about social norms that are anything but normal.  And I make zero apologies about it either.

In fact, I think one of the first things that I want to do for 2018 is to embrace the weirdness.

You see, part of the reason why 2017 was such a rough year for me was because I was trying to be someone that I wasn't comfortable with.  I was trying to be more "normal".  And it took me until 2018 to realize that I absolutely hate being normal.  Because let's face it.  Stressing yourself out because you don't feel you are normal enough for society is not normal.  Stressing yourself out even more when you try to conform to society's definition of normal is not normal either.

Have I confused you yet?

Okay, let's demonstrate this using a pop culture reference from the television series "Full House".  And keep in mind that I will be mentioning some stuff that happened in the last season of "Fuller House" when driving my points home, so consider this a spoiler alert.  Granted, the whole third season's been up for three weeks now, but this is more for those who haven't seen it yet.  You have been warned.

So, if you have ever seen any episode of "Full House", then you are probably aware that D.J. Tanner and Kimmy Gibbler are best friends forever.  Since they were next door neighbours, it's hard to see D.J. and Kimmy not being there for each other, even though the majority of D.J.'s family thought Kimmy was incredibly weird.

Okay, so her fashion sense resembled a box of Crayola crayons after they have baked in the sun for twelve days.  And she did have a humongous foot odor problem that was much made fun of on the show.  And yeah, she did go a little bit trigger happy when she accidentally infected Stephanie's ears while piercing them.  But if you can ignore all those things, Kimmy's loyalty to D.J. remained firm and true.

Of course, while D.J.'s friendship with Kimmy was stronger than salt water taffy, Kimmy's relationship with Stephanie was always brittle.  Kimmy and Stephanie clashed at every opportunity with Kimmy bashing Stephanie on how immature she was and Stephanie insulting Kimmy about how dumb she was.  It was a silly little feud between D.J.'s best friend and D.J.'s sister, and more often than not, D.J. was always the one who tried to smooth things over.

It was sort of like D.J. became the Danny, Stephanie became the Jesse, and Kimmy became the Joey.  Which isn't much of a stretch from the roles they play on "Fuller House".

But as silly a show as "Fuller House" is, I do like one thing that has stayed constant throughout the show's three seasons so far.  The relationship between D.J., Stephanie, and Kimmy has become firm and cemented despite the differences between them.  

I mean, think about it.  You have an overachieving, overprotective mom, a party girl who often goes to bed when everyone else is getting up, and an eccentric woman who is stuck in the 1990s and who wears fashion accessories that look like food.  On paper, this combo would never work, but in "Fuller House", it makes up the unstoppable trio known as "The She-Wolf Pack".

And perhaps the biggest surprise is how close Kimmy and Stephanie have become.  Mind you, Stephanie dating Kimmy's brother might have a little to do with it, but the point is that Stephanie may have taken some time to get accustomed to Kimmy, but once they started living under the same roof, they started to not only like each other, but love each other like sisters.

Perhaps the greatest evidence of this is the fact that Kimmy helped Stephanie when she needed it the most.  On the first season of "Fuller House", Stephanie revealed that she couldn't have children.  However, in season two, there was a chance that she could by using a surrogate.  Initially, the perfect choice would have been D.J., but D.J. had a rough time with her youngest son's birth, so as a result she was ruled out.

But then Kimmy stepped in and offered to be Stephanie's surrogate, and at the end of the third season, Kimmy happily reported that the implanting of the embryo worked and that she was pregnant with Stephanie's child...and her brother's child, which is a little bit strange, but hey, whatever works right?

The point is that Stephanie was initially dismissive of Kimmy's eccentric ways, but over time learned to embrace the eccentricity, and now the two are forever bonded.  And Kimmy perhaps - who always did accept her quirkiness - found a way to accept Stephanie, who initially she saw as a geekburger.

I guess the whole point of this all is to let people know that it's okay to accept that you're quirky, or that you're weird, or that you're strange.  We all feel like that.  Embrace the weirdness.  And more importantly, embrace the weirdness in other people.  You never know...the weird kid who sits by themselves in the corner could be the best friend you've ever had.