Who are the everyday people?

Well, I’m honestly not sure where this fits best, so let’s just tuck it under "miscellaneous." 🙂

I was rewatching American Beauty recently, and I kept circling back to that almost pseudo-profound—yet incredibly mainstream—line that we all sort of pretend isn't a bit cliché: "there is nothing worse than being usual."
Now, look—I don't entirely agree. Personally, I’d say being a cannibal or a thief is a much bigger problem! :P But in a certain sense, I get the sentiment.
As I was chewing on that thought, I came to a conclusion: yes, there really are those people who are just... plain. And I can´t quite put my finger on what exactly makes them so ordinary... which, for me personally, translates to being incredibly boring. 😢

Take this one acquaintance of mine, for example. I wouldn't go so far as to call her a close friend—we haven't known each other very long, and our friendship actually started under rather strange circumstances for some odd reasons. So, here is the breakdown of her personality:
-she's intelligent
-she's kind
-she's been through a lot and actually has things to talk about
-she's a genuinely good, selfless person
-she's calm and composed—not one of those people who gets worked up over nothing
-she rarely gossips
-she isn't scandalous, though she might light up a cigarette here and there or have a drink now and then
-she isn't judgmental
-...blah, blah, blah—a laundry list of great qualities.

Again, I hate admitting this because she is someone I truly care about and someone I sincerely want the best for—but god, she is just so dull. Yes, of course, she has plenty of friends who don't find her tedious, but to be honest, I've met them too, and they were just as uninteresting to me, and I couldn't even pinpoint why. So, I've settled on the theory that it's simply because they are—ordinary.

It's hard to explain; they aren't stupid, they aren't bad people, and they aren't lacking general knowledge... I think I finally realized that what they're missing is a certain zest for life. I mean, I have absolutely no idea what these people do for fun. Specifically regarding this girl—let's call her my friend for the sake of argument—I don't even know her favorite band, what movies she watches, what her favorite food is, or what actually makes her happy... I do know she loves traveling and moving around, having lived in various places throughout her life, and when we talked about it once, she mentioned she enjoys experiencing different cultures. And that's fine, really, but she never follows up with anything about those cultures—nothing about what actually fascinated her or if anything ever truly captured her imagination.
And then there are her life goals—she always says her career is her top priority and that she wants to be successful, but she never specifies what kind of work, or any details at all...

To me, it just feels... standard. And incredibly, incredibly boring. Honestly, I find this way more tedious than the aimless, unsuccessful types—the losers, if you will—who might be a drain on society and the economy, but at least they have a million stories to tell. I'll take a rebel over a saint any day—not because I'm advocating for immorality, obviously, but because those people usually talk about life with so much more passion. At least they're talking, even if they lack direction. I don't mean literal deviants, of course, nor am I talking about promiscuity; I just mean people who live a little more loudly or messily...

Anyway, that’s my take on what an "ordinary" person is.

What does "ordinary" mean to you? What do you find boring? And do you think those two things are even in the same category, or do they overlap at all?

I totally get where you're coming from. Honestly, I haven't really ventured out in ages—and when I do decide to grab a coffee, if I don't walk away with something tangible to show for it, I just end up being pissed at myself. Like, why did I waste two hours on a drink when I could have been doing something actually productive or interesting? 🙂

I honestly can't wrap my head around people who drift through life without any real passion or goals. Oh, sure, they’ve got plenty to say—it’s usually just constant whining and gossiping, which I guess is the peak of their existence. ☕

Lisa Alvarez16 said:I completely hear you. Honestly, that’s why I haven't really ventured out much lately—if I do decide to grab a coffee, it better be worth the trip; otherwise, I just end up getting frustrated with myself for wasting an hour or two that could have been spent on something actually meaningful or interesting. 🙂

I honestly can't wrap my head around people who live without any real passions or goals driving them. I mean, sure, they spend their time complaining and gossiping—and apparently, that's the absolute peak of their existence. ☕

Now, don't get me wrong—it's not that I view myself as some incredibly fascinating person who expects everyone else to talk about deep life ambitions all day long. It's simply that, for me, that kind of lifestyle feels incredibly mundane—and frankly, quite boring.

Carol Martinez said:Look, don't get me wrong—it’s not like I think I’m some kind of nonstop entertainer or that everyone is obligated to have these massive, life-altering goals they need to chat about constantly. It's just that, for ME, the "ordinary" stuff is just plain boring.

Fine. So, what actually keeps you busy? What are you into, and how many people do you actually know in real life who share those same interests?

Lisa Alvarez16 said:Fair enough. So, what do you actually do for a living, what drives you, and how many people do you actually know in real life who share those specific passions?

To be honest, I don't know many people with identical interests—in fact, most of my circle consists of people with completely different hobbies, which is exactly why I find them so engaging. They're my friends, after all. People who lack any real passions, or who have such a...vague sense of what they enjoy, just strike me as plain and uninteresting. That’s really why I’m curious to see how the rest of the forum views things.

As for your other questions, I'll pass—I'm not exactly using my legal name here, so... 🙂 Nhf.

EIT: Actually, let me expand on that: the type of people I find dull are the ones who constantly lean on clichés like:

-everything happens for a reason
-believe in yourself
-you never know what you have until it's gone
-finding oneself
and so on.

It’s not that those sentiments aren't true—they are—but they've been repeated so many times that, honestly, cmon, get a life.

I used to have this friend (thank God she's in the past tense) who was hands down the most boring human being on the planet. It’s exactly what you’re talking about—she was nice, she was sweet, she had all the right qualities, but everything about her was just... meh.

Whenever we hung out, I felt like a quick hour-long coffee date would somehow stretch into three hours of unpaid psychotherapy because I was doing all the heavy lifting. When she actually did talk, it was always about college. I mean, sure, we were students (well, I am anymore, but whatever), but come on—does she really have nothing else going on in her life?

Carol Martinez said:-everything happens for a reason
-believe in yourself
-you never know what you have until it's gone
-finding yourself
etc.

Honestly, that sounds incredibly boring to me. 😂

I just don't get how people can live like that—acting like fate is driving their lives, having zero confidence in their own goals, taking every good thing for granted, and having absolutely no clue why they even ended up where they are.

can someone recap the opening post? I fell asleep halfway through because it was so boring

Lisa Alvarez16 said:Then you'd find me incredibly boring. 😂

I just can't wrap my head around the mindset of people who act like fate is calling all the shots in their lives—people who lack any real self-belief, who drift through life taking every single blessing for granted, and who honestly haven't the slightest clue why they ended up exactly where they are today.

You’ve actually misread me—I think every single one of those points is spot on. It’s just that I find the people capable of articulating them in their own unique way much more compelling.

Sure, maybe you would find me deathly dull. And? Maybe I'd find you boring too, so what?

It’s pretty obvious you guys just aren't cut from the same cloth. I won't get all philosophical on you because the reality is simple: nobody hangs out in a group they don't fit into. A group only works if everyone balances their own interests with what the group needs. If an individual stops pulling for the team, the whole thing falls apart. For example, take some star athlete who's a devout Catholic—if he's sitting on the bench while seven or eight of those losers you mentioned are out grabbing overpriced lattes at Starbucks, it just doesn't work.