Just Jump

All my life, I’ve been told of the bell curve. It’s this magical figure that can be applied to grades, school, and life in general. There’s a couple people at the top, a couple people at the bottom, and a whole slew of people raised up in the middle. Through my experience in this center void I have concluded one drastic flaw with the bell curve, it needs to be inverted. That ever so slippery “U” ensnares and traps people like me, pushing them far into the depths of the middle. If people get caught on the edge, they slip down into it like the Marianna Trench, never to resurface. Trust me, I watch it happen time and time again, and I vow that never be me again.

Here’s an easy test for the middle bubble. What did you want to be when you were little? Most say outlandishly naïve things, dreams and hopes unhampered by reality. Future astronauts, rock stars, football players, millionaires, and ballerinas flourish in elementary school. Then comes middle school, what did you want to be then? For me it was a marine biologist. Yes, I was one of those, however much I hate to admit it. In middle school I was as far into the trench as a person could be.

The real test of the middle bubble is conforming. Take your results from the ever irritating, “What do you want to be?” question from different points through your life. How has it changed? It’s not just if it changes, because change can be good. Don’t get stuck too far into one thing, you know? But why does it change? I realized I was in the middle trap because my career interest changed with probability. Conforming to probability is one of the worst things a person can do. It is lowering expectations rather than changing interests. It is settling for less rather than aspiring for more. That is the real crime in the middle trap, it leaves you empty.

I started thinking about my life, and what I want to do. Not what I want to be when I grow up, but what I want to do. It’s as simple as this: There is always going to be the Middle Trench in life, but for now I have found my way out. Now out, I realize I will fight to the death to remain so. I hope you do the same.