The thing about being human...

The thing about being human is that we all are. Human, I mean.

A good friend of mine calls me and often begins our conversations with “hi, am I crazy?” and then proceeds to describe a feeling or a behavior that seems perfect and reasonable to me, but something inside of her questions that possibility. After listening to her predicament I usually say “You’re not crazy. Welcome to being human.”

“Why do we think about these things and do these things, but no one else does?” she says. Usually my reply sounds something like this: “(laugh, sigh) No one else? HA!”

Being human can feel like a disease sometimes. We run and hide from it, clean our hands a million times a day so we don’t get it--this yuck that is emotion, challenge, fear, and imbalance. We are all so afraid to embrace and be proud of the craziness inside because we assume it’s well, crazy. But the truth is we are all falling off balance, off kilter, and onto the crazy train because our idea of normal is totally completely and utterly…off.

What if “crazy” became the new it thing? What if feeling overwhelmed or insecure or the plethora of other feelings we usually experience secretly became, wait for it…popular. Sought after…umm, trendy? Like a new pair of jeans. What if it was trendy to be a mess? Not like a Hollywood rehab kind of thing, but human and confused and stressed and trying to make it all work and practicing and breathing and and and and. Would we love ourselves more? Would we accept ourselves more? What if being a real human, a perfect mess, was the new trend?

And that’s the thing about being. Human that is.