Unusal as Usual

Life can be difficult for people but there are some who choose to make it even more so. Would you consider leaving your family and living the life of a monk? Or stranger still would you survive without food? What if you stopped using money or even making friends? Believe it or not there are people on earth who either choose to lead a bizarre life or are compelled to do so. What makes people get such wacky ideas to lead unusual lives? Is it boredom, a desire for change, or is it some sort of self-realization of a meaningless life? Then again there are those afflicted with mysterious conditions forced to adopt ways of life that you may find astonishing and hard to believe. People with strange situation that make living a normal life impossible.

Let’s start with the woman who lives in water for 23 years. Imagine living with a disease that leaves you permanently inflamed and sore that even the air landing on your skin causes you pain, how would you feel? That’s what exactly PATARUNI GOSH of India feels. In 1998, a 65-year-old Pataruni who was diagnosed with a strange and mysterious disease that left her body inflamed, painful and sore. For the last 20 years, she has been suspended 12 to 14 hours submerged in a lake near her home all because it relieves her from pain. Too poor to get treated in a hospital, Pataruni gets up at the crack of dawn and walks to the lake where she submerges her body up to neck until sunset because only water can relieve away her pain. What a horrible way to exist.

Second on our list is the man who raises his arm for 48 years. Speaking about people living an unusual lifestyle, could you ever go through life with one hand raised above your head? Think of how painful it would be? Not for Monk Amar Bharati of New Delhi, India. You see this man is a spiritual yogi who once work as a clerk renouncing the world in 1973. He decided to keep his hand raised and obey the Hindu god- Shiva and never put it down ever since. In 1970, he renounces his family and friends for his own religious beliefs and decided for a lifelong penance of keeping one hand raised above his head as a symbol of his devotion. It has been 48 years, and Amar has not yet to put his hand down.

To add the list of our unusual people, next is the girl who lived in a bowl. There are bizarre conditions around the world that could astonish you, but nothing can be as mind boggling and overwhelming as that of Rama Haruna from Nigeria. Believe or not, Rama lived in a bowl and all because her body has stopped developing. The girl was born as a healthy child but once she turned 6 months old her body stopped developing. She lost the use of her limbs and has to be placed in a bowl to remain upright. Throughout her painful life her condition worsens and doctors were baffled as to what was wrong. No amount of medical intervention could save Rama and she succumb to her mysterious and unusual medical condition at 19 years old.

And last to complete our list, the man who quit money. You’ve seen men quit social life, men who quit eating and drinking, but what would you say to a man who quit money? Money, they say makes the world go round, but could you survive without a payday? It may sound impossible but meet Daniel Suelo who did the unthinkable and denounce money 20 years ago. In 2000, Suelo simply emptied his pocket of his life’s saving, 30 dollars to be precise and left it in a phone booth. Since then, he lived without a cent and says he found a new freedom and security he never thought possible without money. Known as the man who quit money, Suelo doesn’t even pay taxes, doesn’t accept welfare and lives in the wild canyon mountains of Utah, surviving off the land for food and shelter. Surprisingly though, Suelo enjoys it and says it was spiritual.

God doesn’t do copies; he creates originals and every single person has something different about them. We were meant to: express our uniqueness with remarkable work that no-one else can do, build connections that no-one else can build, create innovative solutions that no-one else has thought of, help those around us by bringing joy, wisdom and compassion in distinct ways that no-one else can replicate and make a positive difference in the world in ways that no-one else can. You are unique and that matters! So, stop trying to fit in. Stop hiding your capabilities. Stop being satisfied with being average. And be the person you were meant to be. That remarkable, world-changing, unique person. That masterpiece that God has designed you to be