Different Strokes

"Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal"
~Albert Camus

I've never been a very big proponent of being normal. To be fair, though, normalcy is generally overrated by the normal and underrated by the abnormal. A certain amount of normalcy must be present in social interactions simply to put people at ease and be comfortable. The problem with this for abnormal people like me is that it takes a large amount of effort to appear normal with people who don't know me well. Most people generally don't understand this energy and why it takes effort to meet someone for the first time or even hang out with someone I just met. Sometimes I actually have to remind myself to get over it and go hang out with someone that I want to see but am nervous about its awkwardness.

I simultaneously wish I would get over it and that others could see the energy that some have to expend simply to not appear strange.