Take this beaten path and shove it!
I’m in the throes of an abstract painting class intensive. Instructor’s right up my muse alley. He’s constantly uttering rebellious phrases.
And I’ve been writing a lot of them down, like “dare to be messy.” (Of course, I love this. As a messy person, I’ve faced serious discrimination beginning at overnight summer camp when the best candy bars went to the cleanest lodges. My messiness often resulted in my entire cabin sharing a pack of Wrigley Gum instead of us each savoring our own Snickers.)
So, I thought why not make this week’s post short and ask for your best ideas to get off that damn beaten path that keeps beating us up.
I’ll go first like usual.
1) Wear colors so bold, those looking at them need to wear sunglasses.
2) Ditch the GPS and get lost, perhaps winding up in front of a medieval-looking cottage with rhymed menus and poets reciting and serving lunch on the patio.
3) Hike in the pouring rain and sing Singing In The Rain.
And you?
Thx, G.
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It depends on whether it was Wrigley’s Spearmint (gross) or Doublemint!
Hey Tina,
Then you might have made it as a messy camper. I swear they bought 8 good candy bars and then they got progressively worse. Should write an essay on this traumatic dessert experience at a tender age. Thanks for stopping by again!
G.
Hey Rebel Friend!
Go barefoot…into the store…with a sign that says “no shoes, no shirt, no service”.
Climb a tree (pretend you’re a kid, up in a make believe fort).
Take a road you’ve never taken before…right near your home…
(loving this post!!)
Hey Lance,
Super ways to shove the beaten path out of our ways!
Yes, let’s all go barefoot! I attended college in Florida and went barefoot most of the year for four years. What a dream that was. Shoes can be so confining and conforming for the toes.
I loved your latest post on Firework. That’s a tremendous Katy Perry video -one of my fav videos ever. It actually influenced one of my paintings in class. I had all this stuff sparking out of the heart of a sort-of-flower (it’s abstract). A terrific message for all!
Thx as always, G.
Yes, Giulietta, I want to hear more about society penalizing your style….which is SO LAME. Also, making it the group’s responsibility to pressure you into submission or be penalized along with you is scary.
You might like this article by Michael Ellsberg today, about the guy behind CIRQUE DU SOLEIL who ignored the “conventions, pieties and rules of his industry” to create a circus his way.
http://blogs.forbes.com/michaelellsberg/2011/07/22/life-lessons-from-a-fire-breathing-stilt-walking-billionaire/
Hi Anastasia,
You’ve got me thinking about how messiness is seen as a negative that needs to be eradicated like a virus.
Every time I clean my office it reverts to its spontaneous, disobedient state. I know where everything is, yet when I put everything away I can’t seem to find anything.
My mother went to great lengths to keep the house clean during childhood. On her 60thish birthday she said, “I can’t believe I wasted so much of my life cleaning the house.”
Being too clean and sanitized has also wreaked havoc on our immune systems. Now we’ve got superbug bacteria. Kids need to play in the dirt, get all muddy, etc, to stay in sync with the Earth.
Great article about Guy. A good, disobedient kid (Hmm. I like that title.) I’m with him on deciding not to going to college. It’s not for everyone despite what’s become a mantra in all the k-12 schools. In a recent article I read, it said that doctors make the same or less then plumbers over a lifetime when you factor in the money spent, etc.
Many thanks for the comment and the article link! The book mentioned intrigues. G.
Julie
I am with you on messiness all the way! We talked about this today at your wonderful Wild and Disobedient workshop – but honestly – messiness shows a creative mind, except in my messiness I rarely know where everything is 🙂 Also – I am also with you on the super anti-bacteria craze going on. After many years of working in a clinical microbiology lab, I always felt my immune system benefited from all that exposure to common bacteria and pathogens – now it seems silly to worry about germs you may have picked up in Starbucks yet I have friends that pull out their Purell at least 30 times a day I am sure.
Hi Anne,
I like your philosophy that messiness shows a creative mind! It makes total sense. Hard to explore when you’re constantly putting everything away.
People don’t realize the importance of making mudpies. Like you, I swear exposure to mud as a kid had a positive benefit in adulthood. Too funny about the Purell. Something else to lug around. Can we just take our keys for once?
Enjoyed your hilarious personality in the life shop! Nice and disobedient. … thx, G.
Hi G-
This post truly brings us all deeper into the wellspring of creativity because only when you go off the beaten path can you create something new.
Personally, I enjoy skipping down the street or on the treadmill at the gym. Lots of weird looks but I don’t care!!
And organization and order are definitely over rated. I love your Mom’s statement about spending so much time cleaning the house. She’s absolutely right!
Hey Cathy,
Love your energy! Glad to have you back. Skipping — now that’s cool and uber-liberating.
yes, who cares who folks to scared to skip think!
I like your post title. Will check it out. I swear they try to remove our difficulty, to iron it out. Not!
G.
Spot on Julie! You inspire folks to live with child-like abandon! Me? Convention? Nah. You should have seen the looks when I walked into a Board meeting wearing ginormous rabbit ears. And singing at the top of my lungs to Frankie Valli’s Can’t Take my Eyes off You stopped at red lights is an all-time favorite. But the reaction when I blow kisses to a motorist who lets me cross the street is priceless! I love living on the “right” side, hemisphere that is. Absolutely nothing compares to the unconventional right brainer’s lifestyle. It’s where the magic and miracles are! Thanks Julie you’re a jewel!
Welcome Paula!
Too funny about the rabbit ears and singing at red lights. Love that! Yes, it’s terrific you rent a condo on the right side of the brain. Lots of neat sites thataway. Many thanks for joining the “shove.” G.
1. Stop being politically correct for once, and speak for yourself because this is your life.
2. Pick up your pizza with your hands and your noodles with a fork, don’t try to fit in by using silly cutlery that you don’t understand. Eat comfortably where ever you are that’s important. 🙂
3. Most importantly, bet on yourself and follow that dream when every one’s telling you that you’ve made a foolish choice.
Great Post G!. 🙂
Hey Chaitra,
Terrific! I’m so glad you mentioned stop being politically correct – Just another tool of oppression to supposedly stop oppression. Orwell’s 1984 has come to life!
Bet on yourself. Now that’s a powerful statement. People fill the gambling casinos betting on everything but themselves.
Thanks! G.
I took a break last week… my brain demanded it and this is the first place I stopped. Now after your post, I think I’m not quite done with my break. Here’s to making a mess and sharing gum with friends. :)Thanks, G. 🙂
Hi Angie,
We need more breaks. Our nonstop culture makes folks crazy and what’s waiting at the end? Let’s saunter more through life. The slow food movement can be a slow life movement.
Enjoy your break! G.
Funny how you can always find everything in your mess. It’s when you tidy up, file away things, and throw out what you consider not necessary, that things get lost or misplaced. Maybe man, by nature, is meant to be messy. Tidiness used to be a privilege that only the rich, who owned possessions, could afford.
Tidiness is a recent invention – I don’t know when but I’d bet more like a couple of hundred years and only in places that kept records or books.
Sing out loud as I’m walking down the street.
Why have to be so politically correct? I agree with what was said above. It’s so overdone in this country that it’s almost painful. Why not just say it the way it is? If someone is blind or deaf, that’s what they are, rather than vision or hearing impaired, etc.
And sometimes, when I go out, I like to wear good perfume. It never bothered anyone before. It’s easier on the senses than a lot of people’s, more acceptable for some reason, unwashed stink, which is politically incorrect to point out to them as it’s considered humiliation or insulting.
Penelope,
Messy may be the end result of too much crap, which is why tidiness came into existence! Kinda like crap management. It piles up with dust and debris and then it falls over. Growing up we did not have this much stuff everywhere as malls had not been around too long and certainly no discount marts. Yet, I was messy even with less. It feels free to me to toss things.
We should all just say what’s on our minds because otherwise it’s just pretend PC anyway – fake political correctness.
Funny about the unwashed stink! For sure … Thx, G.
You know how you land on a post you really needed. This one is the one for me today. I read and enjoyed every comment and suggestion.
I’ve kind lost my way in Rebeldom. I need to get back to it.
Today, I’ve been looking around my office, feeling guilty because it’s such a mess. I think maybe I’ll start here…
I’m leaving my office a mess and enjoying it. It reflects my personality:~)
Great to see you back here Sara. Getting to rebeldom can come in fits and starts. Must be kismet that you stopped in for a chat.
Nothing like a messy office to get back in touch with your rebelness. Kinda like finger painting without the paint. Feels good to smoosh it all around. Maybe a messy office is a form of painting with paper, books and other stuff?
Enjoy it! G.
I think I’m at my rebel-best when I rebel against myself. It helps me stay out of ruts and test alternative paths.
Absolutely J.D.
Need to be vigilant about the tendency for anyone – even a rebel – to descend into a rut.
I’d need to check your about page again, but don’t you do some kind of programming? Your blog and the above comment highlights “testing alternate paths.”
I’m always trying to piece people’s life themes together based on the evidence they leave around …
Many thx, G.
Hi Giulietta, cool blog 🙂
Not long ago, I gave myself a challenge to say “Yes” to anything that I was invited to do. It turned out good. I noticed myself getting up every morning happy with anticipation of the adventures ahead. It’s good to spice up your life once in a while 🙂
Have a good day,
Anita
Hi Anita,
Thanks for stopping by! Love your yes model. I also enjoy doing that. Why do we say no to what we really want to do? And yes to what we don’t? All backwards!
G.