A Bit of Mad Is Good

BONKERS

As mad as a Hatter. Mental. Loopy. These are terms usually given to people who are unsound of mind. These words can also be used to describe those who are obviously - through their physical appearance, differences in character, attitudes or through the herd mentality generally considered to be not 'normal'. Normal to me means being a conformist. ie. doing things that the majority of others do. Great achievers do not conform.

We are all unique in our own special way and beneath the veneer of our outward facing appearance - all potentially stark raving mad. But we're concerned about appearances and how we're perceived by others. We want to fit in. It takes the likes of artist, Grayson Perry to give us a slap around the face and wake us up to the fact that we've become so over-conscious about what others think that a lot of us live uncomfortable conformist lives away from our true selves. This great Channel 4 documentary looking at 21st century tribes talks about identity based on isolation and fear.

Genius And Madness
It's been said before that genius and madness are closely connected and if we look back through history, we can see clear connections of genius relating to the (ASD) autism spectrum disorder. Great minds that have devoted their lives to bringing a wealth to the human race include Albert Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci, Alan Turing, Steve Jobs, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, likely Bill Gates and there's many others that could be considered this way too.

One thing that stands out with these famous people is that they stayed true to what they believed in, despite being ridiculed, fought against and laughed at for their outlandish beliefs. We should embrace our eccentricities, our quirks, our colourful, interesting, creative character traits. They make us who we are and form our true identity.

In our struggle for acceptance, we compromise our true selves to fit in with what we're led to belief is the normal way to live. But if we want to live a life true to our desires and beliefs, we should consider following our paths towards happiness and fulfilment through expression. I like these two quotes:

'The most beautiful and complex artwork we can make is our identity' Grayson Perry
'First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win' - Mahatma Gandhi

Out Of The Flow

NON CONFORMITY

Going with the flow can be a happy solution - a compromise for getting a group of people together or doing something easy to keep a balanced status quo. This works some of the time - but breaking free from the school and swimming upstream can get us to new places, experiences and allow us to make some amazing discoveries. 

Yesterday, for example, rather than go areas and venues already known and likely get drunk in on the bank holiday, we made a pact to go places not visited before. We walked. Planning out little bars and cafes on the way, we took a route that we'd never experienced on foot before. Stockwell. It's mid way between Balham and London Bridge and cut through by a long and seemingly dull busy road usually travered in a car, bus or bike. 

First discovery was to learn of a strong Portuguese and South American community. The Brazilian cafe on the main road offers a selection of tasty snacks and beverages, entertaining us with lively carnival music to make you feel like you're in Rio! A short detour from the main road revealed a beautiful set of grand houses and small park. Just off the square is a community space called Van Gogh Walk and a placard on one of the houses marks the place Van Gogh lived at in his time spent here working in London! Swtiching on the geocache app - we learned that there's another three regeneration areas in Kennington, all with a GeoCache to find making the experience even more like a treasure hunt. 

Carrying on our walk, the White Bear Theatre is just up from the Oval and has a very intimate space showing some very well received plays - The Pictures of Dorian Gray is now booked. We finished off our little walk with a visit to a quaint little pub called The Old Red Lion - a pub I've passed maybe a thousand times and now realised is a true London gem. It's definitely a pub I'll be visiting again soon. 

All in all, we managed to entertain ourselves with a long walk of discovery right here on the doorstep - and like Vincent Van Gogh, who also professed his love for walking the same route, we took on life from a completely different perspective and through breaking convention/conformity, found some hidden treats away from the usual places in our weekend of adventure.