Jen Norton

Art piece made by Jen Norton to remind us that we are enough the way we are.

“What are some of your special talents and hobbies?”

The question lingered around my head as a high-pitched ringing pierced my eardrums. The dry, cold air stung my eyes, and a teardrop trickled down my cheek. I wasn’t even sad, I had just forgotten to blink. I was completely out of it. I had no answer. So I lied.

“I play guitar, and I like to swim.”

Truth is, I hadn’t touched my guitar since 6th grade. It just sits on the wall, collecting dust. And I do like to swim, but I rarely ever do it. But I made it sound like it was a regular hobby of mine. Why was I so stuck on this question? I have plenty of interesting things about me. But everyone else had an answer, and it didn’t sound like they were lying. Some were painters, others were musicians, and almost everyone had a sport. They each had something that made them unique.

“I’m not good at anything,” I thought. I realized how many people had talents and hobbies. They each had something that made them special. And I didn’t.

Throughout my life, I’ve tried a lot of things. Theatre, singing, guitar, gymnastics, crocheting, dancing, cross country and swimming, to name a few.

But I rarely follow through with them. I felt like a quitter. I was a quitter. I had convinced myself that because I had no talents and wasn’t good at any of the hobbies I tried I was simply not good enough. I wasn’t special. I wasn’t interesting. Nothing about me stood out.

I’ve felt this way for a while, and coming to a school like Carnegie didn’t help. Here, almost every student is involved in extracurriculars and clubs and has something special about them. A talent they have to offer. On top of that, they manage to keep up with academics, maintain a social life, and be the perfect student. It made me feel worthless and below average. What am I doing wrong? What’s my specialty? What makes me good enough?

“I wish my parents had forced me into ballet,” I thought to myself. 

Why couldn’t I have been one of those child prodigies on the piano? Or even a child movie star? I wanted to blame my parents or blame myself. But the truth is there’s no one to blame.

It took me a long time to realize that you don’t have to be “special.“ I still struggle with this even today, but you don’t need to be talented or have ten hobbies in order to be worthwhile. We get so caught up in comparing ourselves to others and let social media influence the way we see ourselves, and it takes a lot of strength to admit that it’s okay to just be average. Despite the negative connotations surrounding the word “average,” I think I’m okay with describing myself as an average student. Because there are eight billion people on Earth, and that person you’re comparing yourself to is an exact copy of someone else across the world. 

So instead of getting so caught up in what makes us important, and worrying about how talented we are, I think we should just appreciate the fact that we are special simply because we exist. There’s no rush to find out what it is you love to do, or what your passions and hobbies are. You don’t have to know what career path you’re going down, either. You don’t have to be special.