Here is a perplexing consideration. If you do things that are unexpected, then people think you are weird. If you do things that everyone else is doing, no one will pay attention to you at all and, therefore, have no names to call you, weird or otherwise. There is always a dance between being normal and doing the unexpected.
The story goes that P.T. Barnum was interviewed by a woman for a book she was writing. She threatened that she might write some bad things about him. His reply was, “say anything you like about me, but spell my name right – p.t. B-A-R-N-U-M. and I’ll be pleased anyway.”
After messing around in the theatrical business, P.T. Barnum bought a museum and soon thereafter would do anything he possibly could think of to drive ticket sales. He proved himself to be the “godfather” of modern marketing in his attempts and the provocative. There are thousands of wonderful examples. I have lots of favorites. One was the “This Way to the Egress” Trick. Attendees would pay a ticket for admission. Then, start following all of his signs for “The Egress,” as if it was some creepy new mystery. What it was was the exit. Hence, the term egress. Most people did not really think of that word that often, so they went along with it and found themselves outside of the museum in a back alley. To get back in they had to buy another ticket. This made people mad, but pretty soon, people would buy tickets just to watch the gullible fall for the trick. He did stuff like this all the time, and soon enough, he got a reputation as being weird. Weird sold tickets, even in the worst of times.
So, should you be weird? I have often danced around this concept. In many cases, I have always wanted to be normal or to be accepted by the ruling class, so to speak. However, in my attempts to do so, I just cannot help myself. I end up doing something wild and unexpected. So, no matter how I try, I end up being weird. So maybe I should just give up and just go with weird all the time? I heard someone say once that “weird is just a side effect of being awesome.” I will go with that!
