Average Joe and Ordinary Jane

Anyone who knows me knows that I have an established list of fears - ranging from open water to kankles. But anyone who really knows me, knows that it's all gibberish. So here it is - my actual number one fear in life: being average.

I know that sounds like an awful thing to be afraid of because, well, by definition - it's typical, it's common, it's what most people are. But, I know I'm not the only one with that fear. We all want better. We all want more.

But, how do you measure average? How do we define who we are in these terms? Lucky for us, Wikipedia did all the work. The wikipage spits out all the data - telling you if you're the Average Joe or Ordinary Jane. It's broken down into categories: families, income, education, social class, occupation and homeownership...

Those are a lot of categories. The full on Average Joe has to fall into the average range for all those classifications. However, even Wikipedia admits that some things can't be measured - like the aspect of family. The more I look at these statistics, the more I question. Are any of us really average?

I know, that question makes no mathematical sense. Of course there are average people, questioning the presence of an average in anything is blasphemy to any empirical mind. But, contrary to what I try to convince myself - that most things in life can be dumbed down to equations - there's no dumbing down here.

There's too much subjectivity in it all to really categorize ourselves. Happiness can't be measured, I'll never argue that. There are too many different definitions to the word success. The life that I picture to be ideal - to someone who comes from difference experiences - could seem nothing more than average.

So, it's time to smash my own fear. Maybe, we're all above average in some aspect of our lives. Life is made up of so many components and it's hard to believe that anyone can fail at all of them. I actually believe that everyone has something they excel at. Honestly though, I think that anyone who is happy with the life they lead is already more than average.