My friend mentioned recently that her colleagues were “nauseated” by the fact that she came into work in a good mood, raving about the joys of life. Now, as amusing as that may be, I think it’s a particularly British trait to be suspicious of the happy, as if it’s somehow weird.

But weird is no bad thing. Weird is to be embraced!

I enjoy plenty of activities that other people often consider odd but they are almost more fun because of it. The subversion gives me a boyish kick.

It’s easy to go through life doing what is expected. Following a standard template for education-career-family-retirement. It’s not difficult to read the papers your parents read, watch the films your friends watch, eat the foods that your supermarket promotes and behave the way that everyone else does.

There’s nothing wrong with any of those things in themselves. If you choose to do them then good for you! But, if rather than choosing them, you’ve never questioned them, assumed that was the norm and just fallen into them, well, that’s where you risk missing out on a lot of life’s beauty.

Worse still, would be to try and deprive other people of that satisfaction simply because what they are doing sits outside your normal realm.

My point?

Try new stuff. Embrace the weird. And, if you make your workmates sick in the process – more’s the better!