Ford Motor Company hosted the Michigan Council of Women in Technology’s Executive Connection Summit this year. One of the speakers for this event was Bonnie St. John. She is a Paralympic Ski Medalist, Fortune 500 Business Consultant, Rhodes Scholar, Former White House Official and a Best-Selling Author. Listening to her certainly was inspiring. In her speech she mentioned how she always tried to fit in and have a normal life but soon realised that being normal was “overrated” and the rest was history! But, I’m afraid I don’t really understand.
What constitutes “normal”? Everyone in their own way thinks they are different (special/extra ordinary) and at some point or the other, wishes they were “normal” or that they led “normal lives”. Most people overcome all sorts of difficulties in life and manage to survive. For these people, this way of life is normal. For these people, a life without struggles is extra ordinary! There are others who succumb to the pressures of life and lead lives that are less than desirable and that is normal to them. For these people, just having the strength to fight and lead a happy life is extra ordinary. So who decides what’s “normal” and what’s not?
When I think about it, I’ve heard many people speak about trying to gather inspiration and motivation from lives of other people and their struggles. But how can we possibly do that when we can never truly understand their struggles not having actually been through those struggles ourselves? I can listen to multiple motivational speakers and come out completely unmotivated personally despite having loved the speeches and added a personality to my forever growing list of people I admire.
As I heard Bonnie speak today, I was reminded, yet again, of how ordinarily “normal” I really am. I have not had to struggle as much as she had to in life and her struggles pushed her to reach the heights that she did. In that case, is it not a case of personal struggles rather than a desire to be “extra ordinary” that pushes you (motivates you) to go that extra mile in life?
Musings of a confused nut! 