I got a Nook for Mother’s Day and I am in love with it!  I recently downloaded a book called Normal Gets You Nowhere by Kelly Cutrone.

Kelly Cutrone is the founder of the fashion public relations, branding, and marketing firm People’s Revolution.  She stars in Kell on Earth on Bravo and has appeared on MTV’s The Hills and The City.

I did catch her show on Bravo a couple of times and enjoyed watching her sometimes train-wreck-y confrontational style, but I really only bought the book on a whim because of the title.

I don’t know what I expecting, but was very excited to find the following excerpt, which seems especially fitting for my Twice-Exceptional daughters.  In fact, I think this is an important message for all 2E kids.

“Basically, this book is for freaks. In my opinion, we need to raise an army of supertalented uberfreaks if we’re ever going to really change the world-since it’s only freaks who ever have. Look at Steve Jobs, Helen Keller, Rosa Parks, Vivienne Westwood, The Mother, Nelson Mandela, Indira Gandhi, Benjamin Franklin, Bono, Vincent Van Gogh, Paco Rabanne, Che Guevara, Amelia Earhart, Leonardo Da Vinci, Pope Joan, Leonard Cohen, Beethoven, Albert Einstein, Joan of Arc… well, you get the picture.  How many of these people followed anyone else’s rules?  Could any of them possibly be considered anything close to normal?

Let’s pause for a moment to see what Merriam-Webster has to say about “normal”:

nor-mal: 2 a: according with, constituting, or not deviating from a norm, rule, or principle; b: conforming to a type, standard, or regular pattern; 4 a: of, relating to, or characterized by average intelligence or development.

Duh.  I rest my case.  Who wants to be that?

By now you probably know that I have little patience for the teachers, parents, bosses and even friends who tell everyone they need to sit quietly and fit in.  History is full of successful, world-changing people who did not fit in and were definitely not normal. Instead of changing themselves to accommodate the status quo or what others thought they should be, these people put a spotlight on their differences—and changed humanity in the process.  Is it possible that the so-called normal people, the ones doing things the way the majority of people are doing them, are the crazy ones?

It’s time we started seeing words like “kooky,” “abnormal,” “crazy,” “eccentric,” and “freak” as what they are:  character differentiation.  I know you don’t feel normal, so why are you trying to act it and prove to everyone you are?

And once you agree you’re actually as distinctive and individual as your thumbprint- even if you’ve been programmed to behave in “normal” ways-then what? How do we use our specific eccentricities to make a difference in ourselves, our immediate community, our chosen field of employment, and ultimately the world?

I think it’s absolutely essential for you to know you are sacred, magical, and special, to nurture that truth and unleash it into the world.”

Kelly Cutrone
Normal Gets You Nowhere