Ada Obiako: You Don’t Want To Be Crazy?

“If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.” – Maya Angelou

You want to be normal?

Fine. That means you don’t want to do anything great in your life.

Many of us spend the majority of our lives striving to be “normal” and “fit in” with the crowd. When we hear the word “crazy”, we shudder. We find it synonymous with “negative”, “dangerous”, or “bad”. After all, who wants to be different and stand out? Who wants to be the cause of opposition and criticism? Who wants to be laughed at and mocked by others? Who wants to be “crazy”? I know I didn’t!

The problem: It takes a bit of “crazy” to do great things in life.

There is nothing normal about achieving great feats – if it was normal, we wouldn’t be so shocked when they happen. There is nothing normal about following great dreams when those around you (sometimes that includes YOU) doubt you, laugh at you, mock you, criticize you, and label you an “underdog”. Look around you – there is nothing normal about renewing your mind, developing self-discipline, and becoming a great vessel of love and service.  There is nothing amazing about “normal”.

It is “crazy” people that dare to dream big. It is “crazy” people that dare to envision a future much greater for themselves and others than that which currently meets the eye. It is “crazy” people that have the courage to take risks in life knowing that they will have some failures on the way to success. It is “crazy” people that believe they were born with purpose and they are meant to impact their world in significantly positive ways. It is “crazy” people that walk in faith – hope of things not yet seen – towards their God-approved vision(s) even though the situation might look hopeless.

It is “crazy” that made a small shepherd boy believe he could step onto the battlefield against a giant of a champion fighter and win – King David. It is “crazy” that made a child who didn’t utter one word until he was four years of age and didn’t start reading ‘til he was seven think he could grow up to become a world-renowned theoretical physicist and funny enough end up considered a genius – Albert Einstein. It is “crazy” that made a woman think she could go around picking and cleaning up the abandoned, deserted, and unloved people on the streets of India in the name of love – Mother Teresa.

It is “crazy” that made a man stand up and fight for the rights of his people in an openly segregated South Africa, go to prison for 27 years because of it, and then come out just to go on and use his life to spread a message of forgiveness, humility, and hope – Nelson Mandela. It is “crazy” that a colored girl who grew up in the American civil rights era, was raped at 7, kidnapped for several days and almost beaten to death by her boyfriend – grew up to become a well-known author, poet, actress, teacher, and civil rights activist who was openly grateful for ALL parts of her life and had great empathy for others – Maya Angelou.

Now YOU don’t have to embrace the “crazy”. If you want to spend your time focused on “fitting in”, you have every right to. If you want to hide your beliefs and stand for nothing in order not to “upset” anyone, you have every right to. If you’d rather go through life bitter, discontented, and critical, gossiping about “everyone” else when you could be using that time to grow in your purpose instead, you have every right to. If you want to remain in your comfort zone forever, never challenging yourself to grow mentally, physically, and spiritually, you have every right to. If you want to go through life pretending you know it all and have no room for improvement, you have every right to. If you want to die without making a significant contribution to humanity, you have every right to. If you want to be normal, YOU HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO BE.

But know this, if you choose to be normal then you choose NOT to do great things in your life. Because, whether we like it or not, it takes a bit of “crazy” for greatness to become a reality. “Normal” and “great” just don’t go together.

So, my question for you is this:

Will you choose to remain “normal” or will you choose to get a little “crazy?”

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