Normal. What even is that? Honestly, the word sounds a little boring to me. A little vanilla. Somewhat pedestrian. Like beige carpet or plain rice cakes — perfectly fine, completely forgettable. And yet so many of us spend enormous energy trying to fit in, tone ourselves down, and smooth off the edges that make us genuinely interesting. We worry about saying the wrong thing, having an unpopular opinion, or standing out in a way that might make someone uncomfortable.

There's a quote I keep coming back to, and it's deceptively simple: "Whatever you decide to do, make sure it makes you happy." Simple. Obvious, even. And yet, for so many of us - quietly radical. At some point, most of us stopped asking whether our work makes us happy. Instead we started asking whether it pays enough, whether it's stable enough, whether we'd be foolish to leave it. Whether we should just be grateful. I know this, because I lived it.