As my wife and I walked down the main street in Fort Benton, Montana (population 1,443), I was struck by the fact that there wasn’t a single store or restaurant that I was familiar with. Aside from its old western feel, and feeling like we stepped back in time, I had two additional feelings… I was impressed… and I was disappointed.
I was disappointed because I realized how most cities and towns have become commercialized, filled up with the same stores and restaurants as every other city, and have become indistinguishable from every other town or city. I realized that we can pretty much know what to expect to see when we roll into most cities or towns in America. It’s a bummer!
I was impressed because here was a town that had avoided the advancements, the common, and the commercialization. Here was a town that had preserved its authenticity. It is that uniqueness and differentness that makes it so appealing and likeable.
As I thought about uniqueness, I was hit by an early memory of a teacher sharing that no two snowflakes are the same. I remember being very young but finding this to be amazing, as there are so many snowflakes. I believe that lesson led to her making the point that we as individuals are unique, having special qualities, talents, and features that separate us from every other human being on the planet.
Leaving Fort Benton, we drove into Great Falls (population 60,300). What did we see there? The same things we see everywhere… a Chipotle, Applebee’s, McDonald’s, Target, etc. This is where I couldn’t help but think about the specialness of being a human being, with a very specific set of genes, history, and experiences that sets us apart from every other human on the planet (as well as every other human that has come before us, and every other human that will ever come after us).
Individual uniqueness is driven out of us. There are social norms, expectations, and processes that stifle us. We tend to follow what others are doing, what others want or expect us to do, and what society deems as worthy and noble, leaving our inner calling unheard. I had many college classmates that were not college material. It wasn’t that they were unintelligent or somehow less, it was just that their talents would have been served (and more highly rewarded) had they focused on their artistic talents or sought out a trade.
I can’t help but think of all the untapped potential and limited success achieved by so many people simply because they followed the path most commonly followed. The deepest desired and the strongest callings in life MUST be followed. They must at least be attended to, even if as a hobby or side job.
Each one of us has an authentic self. I think of it like a block of marble that an artist chisels away at, ultimately exposing a masterpiece. Something that was in there all along, and something that would have remained in there, hidden, had that artist not first seen it in his or her mind’s eye, then diligently hammered away, day after day, to bring that masterpiece to life.
I think I was so struck in that small town in Montana because it made me aware that it is the unique that we crave, the individualistic that we are drawn to, and the rare that we are so fond of. It’s the “authentic” Mexican and Italian restaurants that serve the best dishes, the “one of a kind” pieces of art that command the most money, and the unconventional, quirky, and eccentric among us that change the course of history.
There is a lot of talk about the foods we eat, how much exercise we get, and the quality of our sleep when it comes to health and wellness, and those are super important, but to be truly well, we must ponder why we are here, honor our unique gifts and talents, and seek to become the best versions of ourselves possible. What gets you excited? What catches your attention? What work do you do where you lose track of time? Whatever that is… you MUST spend more time doing that!
