A How-To Guide For Casual Rebellion

Originally written December 22, 2013

I feel as though the year 2013 was the year of the casual rebel.

There was a time where being a rebel meant resisting authority, norms, or control. Now, the rebel is defined by a new word…badass. And that is not necessarily a good thing.

The casual rebel then is a self-prescribed badass, without a cause.

You know, they are the people that choose not to be defined by the norms of society, or placed into a box…but only because that is convenient, or because they want something new to do.

Casual rebels do believe in fighting for something…but I’d be surprised if it didn’t eventually come back full circle to be about them.

This badass is nobody’s friend because the world isn’t ready for the level of cool/uniqueness/enlightenment they have attained. However, the badass takes it personally when no one is clamoring to be their friend, feeding a vicious cycle of denial and unnecessary, casual rebelliousness.

Still not completely sure you have seen casual rebelling in action?

Luckily, the world was gifted YouTube from a magical land called

innovation, and you can find many shining examples just of “casually rebellious moments”, simply by spending a day watching videos of

Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Kanye West, or Chris Brown.

Who knows…maybe casual rebellion is the new “skinny jeans”.

Unfortunately, I could never get down with that newness, so I think I am going to have to keep casual rebellion at bay as well.

Far be it for me to judge or criticize the casual rebel though. So, I decided to put together a quick how-to list, just in case you wanted to jump-start the process.

1) Contract Affluenza — I feel like this is the most important of the ones I will talk about. I mean, if you are still focused on providing for yourself and making responsible decisions and weighing consequences, then it is going to be reeeeeally difficult to just let go and allow casual rebellion to dominate the landscape. I am not currently sure if this disease is hereditary, or is contagious, so you will have to figure out how to contract this. I definitely know it’s not an airborne sickness — there are too many folks out here struggling for the disease to be that contagious.

2) Reinvent Yourself — If you can contract affluenza, then your next immediate concern is how best to reinvent yourself. Casual rebelling is not just a one-time choice; it is a lifestyle. If your personality was “professional ballroom dancer”, 180 that, and embrace your inner “twerker”. It was always there, you just needed your affluenza to make you care a little less about the consequences of not being who you grew up being. In fact, to take reinvention to the next level, just go try out for the twerk team.

3) Find Your “Yes” Crew — And I’m loving the crew. Everyone wants a strong network. Having a crew of people that gives the thumbs up for every idea you have is like going from 3G to 4G. Stronger signal in many more places. Who cares if that support is not sincere and probably destructive in the long term? Without the crew though, casual rebellion could almost be seen as…well dumb.

4) Embrace indifference — Be indifferent about everything. Or not. Either way is fine with me.

5) Be The Victim of Circumstances — It’s not your fault that the world doesn’t understand your coolness or uniqueness. It’s not your fault that you contracted affluenza…unless of course, you didn’t wash your hands before eating.

With these five steps to guide you, maybe you can bring casual rebellion into the new year. Although, I must say, these rebels really can be a distraction from the true rebels with a cause that live their lifestyles every day, stay true to themselves, believe in what they are passionate about — not because it is cool, but because to be anything less than yourself is to not be anything at all.