Paul Horsdal is a Canadian folk singer who performs under the name Valdy.  His career began in the early 1970’s.  I was listening to an old CD the other day and came across one of his songs, “The Good Song”

The first couple of lines go, ” I am not a free man
But neither am I chained, I am not a wise man But neither am I rearranged”

The song goes on to compare a string of attributes like new/old, rich/ can’t be sold. and so on.  The upshoot is the song describes an average person.  And ultimately, the point is, there is great value in being average.

You don’t need to stand out to be of great value.

Running the Race

As you race through the events that make up your life, your actions and accomplishments are unique to you but taken as a whole might be somewhat replicated by others

As  an average person, your life may be unremarkable, that is on average you map to the majority.  On a bell curve you would be classified at the top of the bell.

The lower left and lower right of the bell curves are the extremes for the very good or very bad.  The most important question is are you happy, not are you exceptional (good or bad).

If standing out is required to make you happy, being average probably is not in your comfort zone, however, Valdy’s lyrical description highlighted for me, being average could be a fantastic thing.