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Welcome to Under the Surface. 
This is where we slow down and 

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look at the patterns underneath 
the stories we tell ourselves. 

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Today's chapter is called We are
Not Normal. 

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Now what? 
And underneath the idea of 

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normal is often exhaustion. 
The exhaustion of performing, 

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adapting, shrinking, and trying 
to fit into a version of life 

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that never truly felt honest. 
Most people are not struggling 

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because they are broken, they 
are struggling because they 

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spent years trying to become 
someone easier for the world to 

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understand. 
Welcome to No One is Normal, the

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podcast for real stories remind 
us that none of us are alone. 

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You can also visit the website 
www.bradhhill.com or 

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www.nooneisnormal.co for 
resources, updates and future 

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podcast episodes. 
I am Brad H Hill, and each week 

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we talk about the messy, the 
complicated, and the deeply 

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human moments that shape us and 
remain in our memories. 

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I am not here to tell anyone how
to live. 

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I am here to offer the stories, 
the insights that made me 

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realize that no one is normal, 
including me. 

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Because healing starts when self
honesty begins, Some 

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realizations do not arrive 
gently. 

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They hit like a jolt, sudden, 
undeniable, and almost offensive

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in how obvious they feel once 
they finally land. 

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For me, one of those moments 
came when I stopped arguing with

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myself and admitted something I 
had spent years trying to 

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outrun. 
I am not normal. 

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Not in the polished, 
predictable, easy to explain way

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that society loves to package 
and reward. 

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Not in the neat, orderly version
of life that always seemed to 

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make sense for other people. 
Not in the clean progression of 

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milestones that says if you just
do AB and C, then peace, 

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belonging, and purpose will 
naturally follow. 

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I spent a lot of years trying to
understand what normal looked 

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like so I could imitate it. 
I watched people. 

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I copied behaviors. 
I chased the job, the image, the

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relationship and the lifestyle I
thought would make me feel like 

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I had finally arrived. 
It never worked. 

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The closer I got to looking 
normal from the outside, the 

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more disconnected I felt on the 
inside. 

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I could play the part. 
I could perform stability. 

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I could build the look of 
control, but underneath it I 

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still felt like I was carrying a
life that did not fit the mold. 

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I kept trying to squeeze it in 
two. 

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For a long time, I treated that 
like a flaw. 

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I thought the problem was me. 
I thought if I could just be 

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less intense, less restless, 
less aware, less scarred, and 

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less complicated, then maybe I 
would finally settle into some 

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version of life that felt 
natural. 

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But what if that was never the 
assignment? 

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What if the problem is not that 
I am not normal? 

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What if the real problem is how 
much energy I wasted trying to 

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become something I was never 
meant to be? 

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What if the very things that 
made me feel out of place are 

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the same things that helped me 
survive, rebuild, and tell the 

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truth? 
What if not being normal is not 

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the set back I thought it was? 
What if it is the starting 

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point? 
That is what this episode is 

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about. 
It is about what happens when 

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you stop chasing someone else's 
definition of OK and start 

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asking what is true for you. 
It is about the discomfort of 

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realizing you do not fit the 
expected template and the 

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freedom that can come once you 
stop apologizing for that. 

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It is about identity, 
self-awareness, and the hard 

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truth that sometimes the life 
that fits you best is the one 

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that looks the least 
conventional from the outside. 

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If we are not normal, now what? 
That is the question, and 

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honestly, I think it might be 
one of the most important 

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questions we can ask. 
By the time I got to this point 

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in the story, I had already 
dragged a lot into the light. 

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Addiction, relapse, shame, self 
destruction, career mistakes, 

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starting over, letting go of old
patterns that once felt like 

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survival. 
I had also walked alongside 

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Bonnie while she told the truth 
about almost 30 years of abuse, 

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fear, and survival. 
So this realization did not come

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out of nowhere. 
It was more like something that 

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had been waiting in the 
background for years finally 

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stepped forward and said, are 
you done pretending yet? 

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Once I stopped resisting the 
truth that I am not normal, a 

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lot of my life started making 
more sense. 

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Growing up, normal always looked
like something happening 

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somewhere else. 
Other families seem to have 

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structure where I saw 
instability. 

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Other people seem to move 
through life with a kind of 

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built in ease that I could never
quite replicate. 

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Even when I got older and became
more capable, more accomplished,

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and more self aware, that 
underlying feeling never fully 

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left. 
I still felt like I was studying

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how to live rather than 
naturally living. 

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I was watching how people 
talked, how they fit, how they 

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carried themselves, and how they
moved through relationships, 

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work, and conflict. 
And I kept trying to reverse 

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engineer whatever they seem to 
know. 

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Instinctively, that became a 
strategy. 

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I chased jobs that looked 
respectable. 

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I chased versions of success 
that made sense on paper. 

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I chased relationships, 
routines, and identities that I 

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thought would finally make me 
feel settled. 

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But no matter how close I got to
the version that looked right 

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from the outside, something 
still felt off. 

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It always felt like I was 
forcing myself into something 

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just because it seemed easier to
explain. 

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The harder I tried to fit the 
mold, the more disconnected I 

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became from who I truly was. 
For a long time, I made that 

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mean there was something wrong 
with me. 

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I thought maybe I was too much, 
too aware, too intense, too 

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restless or too hard to please. 
I thought if I could just tone 

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myself down, clean myself up and
become easier for other people 

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to understand, maybe life would 
finally feel less complicated. 

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But over time, and especially 
through writing this book and 

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recording these episodes, I 
started to see something I had 

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missed for years. 
The same traits that made me 

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feel out of step are also the 
traits that helped me survive. 

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The awareness that made me 
anxious in chaotic environments 

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is the same awareness that helps
me read people deeply now. 

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The stubbornness that once kept 
me trapped in destructive cycles

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is the same grit that helped me 
claw my way back out. 

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The fact that I never fully fit 
the standard model is part of 

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why I can connect with people 
whose stories do not fit it 

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either. 
That changed the whole question.

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When I say we are not normal, I 
am not talking about being 

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broken beyond repair. 
I am talking about the people 

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whose lives never followed the 
clean script. 

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Survivors. 
People in recovery. 

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People who grew up in homes that
looked fine from the outside and

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felt like war zones on the 
inside. 

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People who have been divorced, 
shattered, written off, 

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hospitalized, arrested, 
underestimated, abandoned, or 

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quietly exhausted by trying to 
live up to something that never 

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fit them in the first place. 
For people like us, normal was 

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never going to be a straight 
line. 

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Once I stopped grieving that I 
could finally ask something 

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better. 
If I am not normal, now what? 

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That question is uncomfortable 
because it removes the script. 

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Once you stop chasing someone 
else's version of what life is 

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supposed to look like, you are 
left with a kind of freedom that

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can feel almost frightening at 
first. 

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You have to decide what matters 
without a template. 

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Build around your actual values 
instead of your performance, and

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stop asking what will make you 
look acceptable and start asking

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what will make your life honest.
For me, that changed how I look 

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at everything. 
It changed how I think about 

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work, not just what pays well, 
but what actually uses my story,

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my voice, and my instincts 
instead of asking me to hide 

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them. 
It changed how I think about 

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relationships, not just who 
looks right beside me, but what 

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kind of love feels safe, mutual 
and real. 

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It changed how I think about 
purpose because I do not want to

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spend my life quietly carrying 
all this and pretending it never

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mattered. 
I want to use it. 

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I want the scars to mean 
something. 

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It also changed how I look at 
failure. 

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When you are obsessed with being
normal, failure feels like proof

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that you do not belong. 
It becomes something to hide, 

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clean up, and move past as 
quickly as possible. 

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But once I stopped grading 
myself against that fake 

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standard, failure started 
looking more like data. 

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Jobs that burned me out taught 
me what kind of leader I never 

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want to become. 
Relapses taught me where I was 

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still lying to myself. 
Relationships that did not work 

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taught me what I actually need, 
what I will not tolerate, and 

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how expensive it is to betray 
myself for the sake of keeping 

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peace. 
That is the pivot point in this 

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episode. 
This is where the story stops 

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being just mine. 
Because you were not meant to be

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normal. 
You were meant to be you is not 

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just a line that sounds good, it
is the whole assignment. 

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If you are listening to this and
you see yourself anywhere in 

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these episodes, this is the 
moment where I am not just 

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asking you to relate, I am 
asking you to pay attention. 

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Where have you been twisting 
yourself into something smaller 

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just to make other people 
comfortable? 

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Where have you treated your 
differences like defects instead

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of clues? 
Where have you kept chasing a 

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version of life that looks 
acceptable but feels dead? 

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Taking a quick pause here. 
If this episode is resonating, I

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would love for you to follow the
Known as Normal podcast on 

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whatever platform you listen on.
Every follow helps the show 

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reach people who might need 
these stories. 

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Now let's jump back in. 
At the core, this chapter is 

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about what happens. 
The second denial cracks and you

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tell the truth about who you are
and what you have lived through.

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It is not about becoming 
reckless, and it is not about 

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turning your life into rebellion
for the sake of rebellion. 

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It is about finally building 
something that fits. 

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Human beings are wired to 
compare. 

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We notice patterns, study other 
people, and measure ourselves 

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against whatever our environment
presents as acceptable, 

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successful, or safe. 
That starts the young. 

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In childhood, we absorb cues 
about what kind of family is 

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normal, what kind of behavior 
gets rewarded, which emotions 

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are acceptable, and what parts 
of ourselves are safer to hide. 

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Social comparison is not 
automatically unhealthy. 

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It helps us learn. 
But when comparison becomes 

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identity, it starts to distort 
the way we see ourselves. 

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Psychology has shown that many 
people internalize normal as a 

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standard of worth rather than a 
description of social patterns. 

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That is where the damage begins.
If your life is unstable, 

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traumatic, chaotic, isolating, 
or simply different from what is

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being presented as healthy, you 
often absorb that difference as 

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shame. 
You start to believe that 

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because your life does not match
the approved version, there must

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be something deeply wrong with 
you. 

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That belief can follow people 
for years. 

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Neuroscience helps explain why 
not fitting in can feel so 

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physically uncomfortable. 
The brain does not only respond 

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to physical danger, it also 
responds to social threat. 

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Rejection, judgment, exclusion, 
and deviation from the group can

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activate stress systems in the 
body. 

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Social approval tends to feel 
rewarding. 

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Social misalignment can feel 
dangerous. 

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That is why authenticity often 
feels hard at first, even when 

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it is healthier than conformity.
Your nervous system may 

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interpret honesty as risk simply
because it is unfamiliar. 

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Behavioral science also shows 
how repeated conformity can 

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fracture identity. 
When people suppress their 

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instincts, emotions, values, or 
interests just to gain approval,

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they may become more socially 
acceptable but less internally 

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whole over time. 
That can show up as depression, 

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resentment, numbness, anxiety, 
burnout, or a vague feeling of 

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living someone else's life. 
On the other hand, people who 

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begin acting in alignment with 
their actual values, even in 

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small ways, tend to develop 
stronger self trust, resilience,

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and long term psychological 
stability. 

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You can see this all over real 
life. 

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Students who do not fit 
traditional academic molds are 

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often seen as underperformers 
when in the right environment. 

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They may be highly intuitive, 
creative, and capable in ways 

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that standard systems do not 
know how to measure. 

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Workers who do not conform to 
standard success narratives may 

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be viewed as unmotivated when 
they are really trying to build 

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a life that values meaning, 
health, or autonomy over image. 

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Survivors and people in recovery
may feel permanently behind 

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because their timeline does not 
match the cultural script, when 

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in reality they are doing some 
of the hardest work a human 

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being can do. 
Social media has intensified 

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this whole thing. 
We are constantly exposed to 

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00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:18,000
curated versions of other 
people's lives and then silently

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00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:21,720
invited to compare our lived 
reality to their edited 

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00:14:21,720 --> 00:14:25,040
highlight reel that can make 
normal feel like something 

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00:14:25,040 --> 00:14:26,640
everyone else has already 
figured out. 

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But if you look closer, what 
most people are actually craving

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is not normal. 
They are craving belonging, 

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00:14:34,160 --> 00:14:38,920
safety, meaning, and the freedom
to be known without being 

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punished for it. 
That is why redefining normal 

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00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:46,360
matters. 
If you begin to see normal not 

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as a fixed standard, but as a 
social construct shaped by 

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culture, timing, privilege, and 
performance, it loses some of 

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00:14:55,560 --> 00:14:58,800
its power over you. 
It becomes something to examine 

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00:14:58,920 --> 00:15:01,920
instead of obey. 
And once you stop organizing 

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00:15:01,920 --> 00:15:05,880
your life around fitting in, you
can begin organizing it around 

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00:15:05,880 --> 00:15:08,520
what is true. 
That is where individuality 

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00:15:08,520 --> 00:15:11,920
stops being a liability and 
starts becoming a framework. 

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The people who embrace the fact 
that they do not fit the old 

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00:15:15,360 --> 00:15:19,560
mold often become the ones who 
create new language, new 

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00:15:19,560 --> 00:15:23,520
communities, new systems, and 
new forms of leadership. 

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00:15:24,160 --> 00:15:26,760
They tend to become more 
creative because they had to 

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00:15:26,760 --> 00:15:30,240
think differently, more 
compassionate because they know 

258
00:15:30,240 --> 00:15:34,080
what it feels like to be outside
the circle, and more resilient 

259
00:15:34,480 --> 00:15:37,800
because they had to build 
identity from the inside out. 

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So yes, being not normal can 
hurt, but it can also become the

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exact thing that frees you. 
For a long time, I treated 

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00:15:47,880 --> 00:15:50,760
normal, like it was a 
destination I had somehow 

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00:15:50,760 --> 00:15:52,960
missed. 
I thought if I could just work 

264
00:15:52,960 --> 00:15:57,600
harder, make smarter choices, 
clean up the messier parts of my

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00:15:57,600 --> 00:16:02,480
life and become more acceptable,
then maybe I would finally feel 

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00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:06,240
at peace inside my own skin. 
I did not realize how much of my

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00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:10,080
life was being shaped by that 
chase until I finally stopped 

268
00:16:10,360 --> 00:16:11,880
and looked at what it was 
costing me. 

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00:16:12,560 --> 00:16:16,600
A lot of what I was calling 
ambition or discipline was 

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00:16:16,600 --> 00:16:20,320
really performance. 
I was adjusting my words, my 

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00:16:20,320 --> 00:16:23,920
goals, and even the way I 
related to people around what I 

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00:16:23,920 --> 00:16:26,080
thought would make me easier to 
understand. 

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00:16:26,560 --> 00:16:29,480
I was trying to create a life 
that made sense from the 

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00:16:29,480 --> 00:16:32,880
outside, even when it did not 
feel honest from the inside. 

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00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:36,600
That kind of disconnect does not
always show up dramatically. 

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00:16:36,920 --> 00:16:40,080
Sometimes it looks like 
functioning, sometimes it looks 

277
00:16:40,080 --> 00:16:44,120
like success, but underneath it,
there is this steady feeling 

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00:16:44,280 --> 00:16:47,960
that something is off. 
What I finally had to admit is 

279
00:16:47,960 --> 00:16:49,840
that a lot of that performance 
was fear. 

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00:16:50,520 --> 00:16:53,960
Fear of rejection. 
Fear of being seen too clearly. 

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00:16:54,560 --> 00:16:58,400
Fear that if people knew how 
complicated, intense, restless 

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00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:02,200
or wounded I really was, they 
would decide I was too much or 

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00:17:02,200 --> 00:17:05,520
not enough. 
I was not just chasing normal, I

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00:17:05,520 --> 00:17:08,200
was chasing safety. 
I thought if I could fit the 

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00:17:08,200 --> 00:17:11,400
mold, then maybe I would stop 
feeling exposed. 

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00:17:11,839 --> 00:17:15,160
The irony is that the parts of 
me I tried hardest to tone down 

287
00:17:15,640 --> 00:17:18,079
are some of the same parts that 
carried me through. 

288
00:17:18,680 --> 00:17:22,359
My awareness helped me survive. 
My intensity helped me keep 

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00:17:22,359 --> 00:17:25,440
going. 
My need to question things is 

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00:17:25,440 --> 00:17:28,880
part of what kept me from 
staying trapped in dead versions

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00:17:28,880 --> 00:17:32,160
of my life forever. 
Those traits did not make me 

292
00:17:32,160 --> 00:17:34,800
broken. 
They made me harder to explain 

293
00:17:34,800 --> 00:17:39,880
inside a world that prefers 
simple labels and tidy stories. 

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00:17:40,920 --> 00:17:43,760
Accepting that I am not normal 
did not fix everything. 

295
00:17:44,520 --> 00:17:47,520
It did not suddenly erase doubt 
or make life easy. 

296
00:17:48,320 --> 00:17:52,520
What it did do was remove the 
fantasy that one day I would 

297
00:17:52,720 --> 00:17:56,880
finally become some polished 
version of myself and feel 

298
00:17:56,880 --> 00:17:59,440
complete. 
It gave me permission to stop 

299
00:17:59,440 --> 00:18:02,600
chasing the mold and start 
paying attention to what is 

300
00:18:02,600 --> 00:18:05,520
real. 
That shift changed more than I 

301
00:18:05,520 --> 00:18:08,160
expected. 
I do not think healing made me 

302
00:18:08,160 --> 00:18:10,720
normal. 
I think healing helped me stop 

303
00:18:10,720 --> 00:18:12,520
needing that word in the 1st 
place. 

304
00:18:12,920 --> 00:18:16,200
What I want now is not a life 
that looks acceptable from the 

305
00:18:16,200 --> 00:18:19,080
outside. 
What I want is a life that feels

306
00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:22,320
honest when I wake up in it. 
At this point, that matters far 

307
00:18:22,320 --> 00:18:24,240
more to me than fitting in ever 
did. 

308
00:18:24,800 --> 00:18:28,120
If you are listening to this and
something in it feels familiar, 

309
00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:30,640
that is probably not an 
accident. 

310
00:18:31,440 --> 00:18:34,440
Maybe you have spent years 
feeling just slightly out of 

311
00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:38,520
step with everyone around you. 
Maybe you have asked yourself 

312
00:18:38,520 --> 00:18:40,720
some version of the same 
question repeatedly. 

313
00:18:41,560 --> 00:18:44,960
Why can I not just fit? 
Why does this feel easier for 

314
00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:47,800
other people? 
Why do I feel like I am always 

315
00:18:47,800 --> 00:18:50,680
trying to decode life instead of
naturally living it? 

316
00:18:51,680 --> 00:18:54,080
Those questions are more common 
than people admit. 

317
00:18:54,520 --> 00:18:57,640
A lot of people hide the parts 
of themselves that do not line 

318
00:18:57,640 --> 00:18:59,960
up with what they think the 
world will reward. 

319
00:19:00,520 --> 00:19:03,800
They soften their edges. 
They mute their instincts. 

320
00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:09,240
They stay in jobs, 
relationships, or routines that 

321
00:19:09,240 --> 00:19:12,280
are slowly killing them because 
those choices look more 

322
00:19:12,280 --> 00:19:15,400
acceptable from the outside. 
They tell themselves that if 

323
00:19:15,400 --> 00:19:18,440
they can just hold it together 
long enough, eventually it will 

324
00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:21,240
feel natural. 
But sometimes it never does. 

325
00:19:21,800 --> 00:19:23,480
And that does not mean you've 
failed. 

326
00:19:24,080 --> 00:19:28,040
It may mean you have been trying
to force yourself into a life 

327
00:19:28,040 --> 00:19:31,560
that does not actually fit. 
Normal is not fixed. 

328
00:19:31,880 --> 00:19:37,240
It shifts with culture, timing, 
family systems, peer groups, and

329
00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:41,280
whatever environment you are in.
What one place rewards, another 

330
00:19:41,280 --> 00:19:44,240
place punishes. 
What one community calls 

331
00:19:44,240 --> 00:19:48,680
healthy, another calls selfish. 
If you build yourself worth 

332
00:19:48,880 --> 00:19:52,520
around those moving targets, you
will spend your life exhausted 

333
00:19:52,520 --> 00:19:55,280
and confused. 
But if you start looking at your

334
00:19:55,280 --> 00:19:58,680
life through your own values 
instead of arbitrary 

335
00:19:58,680 --> 00:20:01,520
expectations, something begins 
to change. 

336
00:20:01,920 --> 00:20:05,440
You stop asking how to look OK, 
You start asking how to live 

337
00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:07,600
honestly. 
That is not easy. 

338
00:20:08,160 --> 00:20:12,440
Most of us were trained from 
early on to compare perform. 

339
00:20:12,840 --> 00:20:15,520
Avoid judgment and interpret 
difference as danger. 

340
00:20:15,880 --> 00:20:18,280
Letting go of that does not 
happen overnight. 

341
00:20:18,840 --> 00:20:20,520
It can feel frightening at 
first. 

342
00:20:21,080 --> 00:20:24,600
You May 2nd guess yourself. 
You may worry about what people 

343
00:20:24,600 --> 00:20:28,440
will think that is real. 
What matters is whether you are 

344
00:20:28,440 --> 00:20:31,000
willing to notice those 
pressures instead of 

345
00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:34,440
automatically obeying them. 
So I want to ask you something. 

346
00:20:35,320 --> 00:20:40,360
Where in your life have you been
trying so hard to be normal that

347
00:20:40,360 --> 00:20:45,160
you have become smaller, 
quieter, sicker, or more numb? 

348
00:20:46,120 --> 00:20:49,080
Where are you twisting yourself 
into something that makes sense 

349
00:20:49,080 --> 00:20:51,120
on paper but does not feel 
alive? 

350
00:20:51,720 --> 00:20:55,120
Where are you treating your 
differences like defects instead

351
00:20:55,120 --> 00:20:57,880
of clues? 
You do not have to answer all of

352
00:20:57,880 --> 00:21:00,960
that today, but you do need to 
start paying attention. 

353
00:21:01,800 --> 00:21:05,720
Because the minute you stop 
worshipping normal, you begin to

354
00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:09,080
reclaim yourself. 
And when that happens, you are 

355
00:21:09,080 --> 00:21:12,080
no longer just surviving other 
people's expectations. 

356
00:21:12,520 --> 00:21:15,360
You are building a life that 
actually belongs to you. 

357
00:21:15,920 --> 00:21:18,880
Acknowledging that we are not 
normal is not about defeat. 

358
00:21:19,680 --> 00:21:23,120
It is not about limitation. 
It is not about deciding that 

359
00:21:23,120 --> 00:21:27,560
because life did not follow the 
expected blueprint, we are 

360
00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:32,480
somehow less worthy of peace, 
love, purpose, or success. 

361
00:21:32,800 --> 00:21:35,800
It is about clarity. 
It is about understanding that 

362
00:21:35,800 --> 00:21:39,520
many of the rules we absorbed 
were arbitrary, socially 

363
00:21:39,520 --> 00:21:43,120
reinforced, and never designed 
to hold the full truth of a 

364
00:21:43,120 --> 00:21:46,280
human life. 
Once you see that, you can stop 

365
00:21:46,280 --> 00:21:48,960
organizing your identity around 
fitting in. 

366
00:21:49,440 --> 00:21:51,960
You can start organizing it 
around what is real. 

367
00:21:53,120 --> 00:21:57,160
Seeing normal as a lens instead 
of a label changes everything. 

368
00:21:57,560 --> 00:22:00,760
It lets you question assumptions
instead of living under them 

369
00:22:00,760 --> 00:22:03,640
blindly. 
It lets you examine the pressure

370
00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:07,200
you have carried, the roles you 
have performed, and the choices 

371
00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:09,200
you have made just to feel 
acceptable. 

372
00:22:09,520 --> 00:22:13,240
It turns shame into insight. 
It turns conformity into 

373
00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:15,480
reflection. 
It turns difference into 

374
00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:18,480
information. 
And from there, you can build. 

375
00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:22,320
You can choose your values more 
deliberately. 

376
00:22:22,920 --> 00:22:25,600
You can act from alignment 
instead of panic. 

377
00:22:26,320 --> 00:22:30,160
You can recognize that your path
may be unconventional and still 

378
00:22:30,160 --> 00:22:33,680
be deeply valid. 
You do not need to fit a mold to

379
00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:36,440
be worthy, capable, or 
successful. 

380
00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:39,600
You do not need to erase your 
story to earn belonging. 

381
00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:43,680
The things you survived, the 
ways you differ, and the parts 

382
00:22:43,680 --> 00:22:46,640
of you that never lined up 
neatly with the script do not 

383
00:22:46,640 --> 00:22:50,040
disqualify you. 
If anything, they may be the 

384
00:22:50,040 --> 00:22:53,920
exact material your real life is
meant to be built from. 

385
00:22:54,560 --> 00:22:58,720
So if you take anything from 
this episode, let it be this You

386
00:22:58,720 --> 00:23:02,000
do not need to become normal. 
You need to become honest. 

387
00:23:02,480 --> 00:23:06,440
You need to pay attention to 
what fits, what does not, what 

388
00:23:06,440 --> 00:23:10,640
heals you, what numbs you, what 
pulls you closer to yourself, 

389
00:23:11,120 --> 00:23:14,440
and what keeps you performing 
for a world that was never going

390
00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:17,160
to save you. 
That is where freedom starts. 

391
00:23:17,640 --> 00:23:21,120
That's under the surface. 
Not to shame the differences, 

392
00:23:21,640 --> 00:23:25,480
not to force ourselves into a 
mold, but understand the 

393
00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:27,840
patterns that made us believe we
had to. 

394
00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:31,880
If this chapter brought up 
feelings of isolation, pressure,

395
00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:35,760
or the fear that you never quite
fit anywhere, you are not alone.

396
00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:38,960
Maybe the goal was never to 
become normal. 

397
00:23:39,560 --> 00:23:42,040
Maybe the goal was to become 
honest. 

398
00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:46,640
Sometimes healing starts the 
moment we stop asking how to fit

399
00:23:46,640 --> 00:23:49,520
in and start asking what 
actually fits us. 

400
00:23:51,520 --> 00:23:55,560
Just a reminder, the stories and
conversations in this podcast 

401
00:23:55,640 --> 00:23:58,320
are for informational and 
personal reflection only. 

402
00:23:59,080 --> 00:24:02,200
Nothing shared here should be 
taken as medical, legal, or 

403
00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:05,200
professional advice. 
Always speak with a qualified 

404
00:24:05,200 --> 00:24:07,960
professional about your own 
personal situation. 

405
00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:13,480
Thank you for listening to No 
One Is Normal. 

406
00:24:13,920 --> 00:24:17,280
If today's message resonated 
with you, you can find the book 

407
00:24:17,280 --> 00:24:21,360
No One Is Normal on Amazon and 
Kindle and explore more 

408
00:24:21,360 --> 00:24:30,040
resources at www.bradhhill.com 
or www.nooneisnormal.co. 

409
00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:33,920
Remember, you weren't meant to 
be normal, you were meant to be 

410
00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:34,160
you.