Break The Rules Because You’re Not A Robot
I was going to write a really long title simply because they said that titles should be a certain length and if they weren’t a certain length then people would read them and then if people didn’t read them then there would be no reason for people to talk about them and if people weren’t talking about them then…BREATHE!
I just wanted you to read that first sentence. Sentences are supposed to be short. Titles are supposed to be short. Words are supposed to be spelled a certain way. But maybe they’re not because there is research that says they don’t really have to be in order for us to understand.
For example, check out this graphic:
I was blown away the first time I read this message. Not because I realized I could read it. But because I realized we do so many things in our lives without questioning where they came from or why we do them.
Why do we drive on a specific side of the road?
Why do we use the knife in the right hand and not the left?
Why do we eat lunch at a certain time of the day?
Why do start school at a certain age?
Why do we have a weekend break on Saturday and Sunday instead of doing one on Wednesday and the other on Saturday?
Why do we use dollar bills if the money in Fort Knox isn’t the standard anymore?
Who comes up with all of this stuff and says you HAVE to do it a certain way?
We do so many things without thinking. We simply do it because it’s always been done that way or because that is how it’s SUPPOSED to be done.
As a speaker, I’m supposed to have a certain structure to my talk because that is the way people consume information. As a writer, I’m supposed to write sentences a certain way because that’s the way people consume information.
We are being trained without even knowing it and as rebellious as some of us THINK we are, we’re still a part of the machine.
I’m not cynical. I don’t believe we can’t make a difference no matter what. Quite the opposite actually. Questioning everything, being intentional about what we do and understanding why we have chosen to do it is the first step towards freedom. Most people misunderstand this. They interpret freedom as being able to do what you feel like, when you feel like, how you feel like it. Every action has a reaction. With every sequence, there’s a consequence. If your action hurts someone you love, you must live with the consequence. That’s guilt, not freedom.
Freedom is the ability to intentionally choose then making sound decisions about how to operate. But in order to understand and in order to be intentional, we must understand what we do and why.
So, unless it involves hurting someone, sometimes I break the rules. I eat breakfast at night. I use the knife in my left hand. I end a statement with a question mark? I write a sentence
then start an entirely new paragraph without bothering to place punctuation mark. As a matter of fact, sometimes I might even decide to put the punctuation on an entirely different line
.
All by itself. Backwards write to decide might I Then. Life might be easier when I simply follow the rules and play the game on the board. But, I’m not a robot.
Sometimes, it’s necessary to explore the other side of your norm so you can be intentional about how you live.
Today is Day 33 of my 12 week writing journey. Here are two other posts:
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