Until you realize who you really are, you will have a hard life. This is especially true if you are an outlier; You will keep being confused, and angry, have low self-confidence, feel isolated, and depressed. The intuition may be there that you think differently and want things differently, but that is not enough until you get to that stage of certainty.

Only maybe 1 or 2 percent are true outliers and while I believe more and more of us are becoming ones, it has become a hype – and that makes it even harder. I don’t know if I am one but I want to find out. Below are some of my thoughts on this and I invite you to do the same for yourself. Seeing that you have come this far in this article after a long and shallow intro you may be motivated to do so.

• Let me put this thought first as I find that this may be the most telling: ‘I feel that I am sickened by the dysfunctionality of how we, humans live currently. It is not only that I do not want to take sides (this alone could just mean that I am overwhelmed or traumatized for instance), but I feel morally sickened. I wish we lived differently. Starkly differently.’
• If I chose to be an outlier because I want to prove my self-worth then I am not an outlier.
• Am I not an outlier if I don’t dare to act? I don’t think it is possible to say. I may be afraid just yet. Or undecided.
• Am I an outlier if I stand out for something? Not necessarily. I may be just programmed to do so.
• Am I ‘chosen’ to be an outlier or is it something that I choose for myself? I don’t know. Speaking for myself I can hardly imagine that this is something that I did not choose sometime back.
• Is it good to be an outlier? I don’t think it is a question. Either I am or I am not. It becomes a question only if I am not and for instance, it feels fancy to be one.
• Am I an outlier if I like to do things differently? I don’t think it is possible to say only from this. I may just simply be an oddball.
• Am I an outlier if I like being alone? I don’t think that this is a decisive behavior either. I personally think though that outliers enjoy being in solitude. Or maybe they do not enjoy being in dysfunctional settings.
• Is it dangerous to think that I am an outlier while I am not? I may live my whole life in a fantasy world.
• Is it okay not to be an outlier? Fully. Either I am one or not and in both ways I can live a fulfilling and valuable life.

Being an outlier is like climbing a mountain. The difference is whether you want to do it. Personally, I think that if someone is an outlier then she or he cannot do other than act. Otherwise, one can never really be satisfied. And acting here doesn’t necessarily mean some kind of physical action. I also personally hope that outliers have a very valuable role. Especially in present times.