The Beauty of Being Average
Just a Soliloquy About The Beauty of Being Average
The Tyranny of Greatness: How the Myth of “Average Is Failure” Corrupted Us
From the moment we could grasp the world in language, a narrative was planted in our minds: you must stand out. Be extraordinary. Win. Innovate. Excel. Average is failure, and mediocrity is a fate worse than death. This is the gospel we inherited, preached by well-meaning parents, ambitious educators, and the endless cacophony of a world obsessed with greatness.
And we believed it. How could we not?
We internalized the idea that life is a ladder, every rung a competition for worth. Anything short of brilliance—whether academic, professional, personal, or even physical—was cast as insignificance. Being average wasn’t just undesirable; it was synonymous with being invisible.
And who wants to be invisible?
But beneath the surface of this relentless pursuit of “more,” “better,” and “best,” a question festers like a wound: What if we were wrong? What if average is not failure—but freedom?
The Poison in the Promise of Perfection
To strive for greatness is, on the surface, an admirable thing. Ambition drives progress; it builds skyscrapers, sends us to the stars, and sculpts symphonies out of silence. But there’s a darker side to this pursuit, one we rarely acknowledge: when greatness is demanded, worth is conditional.
Think about it. What does this culture of exceptionalism teach us? That our value is tied to how much we achieve, how far we rise—and how we look doing it.
The idea that our bodies, faces, and very appearances must also be “exceptional” has been baked into the myth of greatness. We’re bombarded by airbrushed ideals, influencer aesthetics, and filters that smooth every flaw into oblivion. The message is clear: beauty is currency, and average looks are bankruptcy. The face in the mirror becomes a battleground, every wrinkle, pore, and imperfection a personal failure.
This demand for physical perfection poisons us in subtle but insidious ways. It teaches us to measure our value in symmetry and cheekbones. It makes us chase unattainable ideals while forgetting the sheer miracle of simply existing in a human form. We begin to ask ourselves, Am I beautiful enough to matter? And when the answer is no—or not always—it corrodes our sense of self.
What We Lost When We Stopped Embracing “Enough”
This narrative of greatness robs us of something sacred: the ability to find meaning in the mundane. We’ve been trained to dismiss the quiet, unremarkable aspects of life as trivial. But isn’t the everyday—the morning coffee, the laughter of friends, the softness of dusk—where life truly happens?
When it comes to looks, we’ve lost something even more essential: the ability to see ourselves clearly. Instead of celebrating the raw, unfiltered beauty of who we are, we’ve been taught to cover, alter, enhance. Our natural faces and bodies become projects, endlessly in need of improvement. But what if we dared to ask: who decided this was beauty? Who benefits when we believe we’re not enough?
When was the last time you felt peace in being average—in your achievements, your appearance, your life? In being a speck in the universe, a piece of the grand, chaotic puzzle? We resist this because it feels like surrender. But what if it’s not?
What if embracing “enough” is the rebellion? To reject the tyranny of greatness is to reclaim the joy in simplicity. It is to step off the ladder and say, I exist, and that is sufficient.
The Psychological Toll of Believing “Average Is Failure”
When we bought into the idea that being average is failure, we didn’t just set ourselves up for disappointment—we fractured our sense of self. We began to see our identity not as a fluid, multifaceted being but as a measurable performance. Success became our compass, even when the map it offered led us into emotional deserts.
This belief taught us to fear mediocrity in every form—intellectual, professional, and physical. But worse, it made us fear ourselves—our true selves. The self that is not always brilliant, not always beautiful, not always “on.” The self that stumbles, that rests, that sometimes just exists.
When we reject our ordinariness, we reject our humanity.
Reclaiming the Beauty of Being Human
Here’s the truth no one tells us: most of us will be average. By definition, we must be. There will always be those brighter, faster, richer, stronger—and yes, conventionally more attractive. But this is not a failure; it is balance. To be human is not to be exceptional in everything—it is to exist in the spectrum of the ordinary.
What if we stopped running from this? What if we embraced our averageness as a testament to our shared humanity? Average is not failure—it’s connection. It’s the bond of knowing that we, like everyone else, are striving, hurting, laughing, and loving. It’s the quiet beauty of living, not as a spectacle, but as a symphony of small, meaningful moments.
The Radical Act of Letting Go
Letting go of the myth that average is failure isn’t easy. It requires unlearning years of conditioning. It demands that we confront the emptiness we’ve filled with accolades, productivity, and aesthetics. But in that void, something profound waits: freedom.
Freedom to simply exist without the crushing weight of expectations. Freedom to love yourself not for what you achieve, but for who you are. Freedom to see your reflection and think, this is enough. Freedom to define your own version of beauty—not filtered perfection, but the messy, radiant truth of being human.
So here’s my challenge to you: dare to be average. Dare to be ordinary. In a world screaming for greatness, this might be the most radical, freeing act of all.
Look in the mirror, see yourself, and whisper the most subversive truth you can: I am enough.