Way Ouside the Box

Albert Einstein once said, “If, at first, an idea is not absurd, there is no hope for it.”  If that’s true, then I must be one of the most absurd people on the planet.  My entire life has been filled with ideas and experiments that would make even Willy Wonka grab for his security blanket… or perhaps his 401k.  For me, however, this has just been my normal, day-to-day existence. 

 I’ve never been the type to think, “I’m going to go to college, get my degree, and get a job in… (insert your favorite industry here).  That’s not to say I haven’t tried college – I have, and I found it so stifling that I almost pulled my eyeballs out… all four times!  I have always been a critical thinker, a busy-body who continually questions the status quo, and most college people don’t like that.  “Fitting in” has never been my style, nor my desire, for that matter.  

Now, please don’t misunderstand me.  I’m not saying that I purposely rail against the establishment just for the sake of being different.  I’m saying that I am physically, mentally, and emotionally unable to align myself with what everyone else is doing, simply because it’s what everyone else is doing.  It’s like asking a cat to bark… it can’t happen. 

I have traveled some fairly bumpy roads as a result of my thinking way outside the box.  I have lost jobs, burned bridges, and even lost a dear friend in the process.  But somewhere deep inside, I have to believe that God put this quality in me for a reason.  Thinking and dreaming in starkly unique ways is just what I do.  It’s who I am… and I’m okay with that.