Weird is The New Normal

From the moment we’re born, the world hands us a script: Go to school. Get good grades. Choose a “practical” career.

Date the “right” kind of person. Settle down. Repeat. But what if that script doesn’t fit you? If money weren’t a factor, how different would your life choices be? What would your life look like?

Photograph by Ron Lach

Breaking societal norms is usually frowned upon. There was a time when you wouldn’t get hired if you had visible tattoos or piercings, but it isn’t about rebellion for the sake of aesthetics. It’s about being honest with yourself. Perhaps you don’t want to attend college, even if everyone advises you to. Maybe you dream of being a stay-at-home dad, or building your own business instead of climbing someone else’s corporate ladder. Perhaps your gender, style, or path don’t fit neatly into a box. That’s not a flaw. That’s the start of something real.

You don’t have to dye your hair neon or drop out of school to defy expectations. Sometimes, breaking the rules looks like the quiet act of saying no. No to the career that drains you. No to the relationship that ticks all the boxes but leaves you empty. No to the version of you shaped entirely by other people’s comfort zones.

Photograph by Shvetsa

The thing is, a lot of what we call “normal” is just repetition—passed-down ideas about how life should look. Graduate. Hustle. Marry. Settle. Smile. Be grateful. But for whom? And at what cost?

There’s a quiet revolution unfolding. In thrift stores, group chats, playlists, and late-night journal entries. In the decision to rest instead of grind. In the dream to live off-grid, write poems, grow tomatoes, or exist without constant performance. Not for likes, not for clout—for yourself.

And here’s the most important part: your individuality is not a liability—it’s your power. There is no one-size-fits-all way to be human. Your weirdness, your quirks, your contradictions—they aren’t mistakes. They’re clues. Signs that you were never meant to be a copy of someone else. Lean into what makes you different. Let your story be what it is, even if no one around you understands it yet.

This isn’t rebellion. It’s real life. Yours.