When responsibility is furiously knocking on your door, when your future hangs in the balance between now and tomorrow, you want to feel in control of your life. You want something that grounds you to what you feel in a distilled moment, something that reminds you of who you are, something that preserves your spirit. You want to take every opportunity to make a decision for you. Not a decision for the standard. Not a decision based on expectation. And in this state of completely warranted, selfish decision making, you want to rebel.
We all want to rebel. We all want to shout out a big F-you to growing old and to the predictable. But, at this stage of the game, we are not willing to scrap our progress and start over. We are not looking to establish complete anarchy against the system. However, we are determined to find small ways to take back control and secure our current status as young adults, a title which is a little more lenient in terms of disobedience and insubordination.
So, if we are not seeking to start a revolution, what are the terms of such a rebellion? Well, for me, I’m itching to get a few more piercings, streak my hair different colors of the rainbow, get a small tattoo that can, of course, be hidden by clothing. With this being said, it is important to acknowledge that these so called examples of defiance are actually carefully calculated risks and decisions that appease my need to deviate from this structured, assuming path toward adulthood while still keeping the road most traveled in sight. It’s the most ironic thing; I want to rebel against expectation in the most expected way imaginable. It’s not permanent. It’s not daring. At the end of the day, I could take out the piercings, dye my hair back to its original color, and, well, the tattoo wouldn’t be going anywhere but it wouldn’t be on display either. It’s a concentrated, cautious rebellion. And yet, when the future seems to be closing in all too quickly, I’ll take any illusion of control I can get.
Though my expressions of rebellion may not be everyone’s cup of tea, it is impossible to deny that we all rebel in some sort of way. Still, in whichever manner we choose to go about it, we are all rebels with a cause. A cause dictated by a need to remain spirited, care-free individuals. A cause motivated by a refusal to equate growing up with growing old. We rebel to preserve our imagination, to preserve our vibrancy, to preserve our spontaneity. And though none of our “acts of rebellion” are truly harmful to our preconceived, intended paths, we now have the ability to approach these roads with a renewed inner strength and the courage to pursue whatever may lie ahead on our own terms.
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