Should You Feel Guilty About Breaking the Rules?
Why should you when you are mature enough to deal with the consequences?
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“If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun.”
— Katharine Hepburn
As we know, every action has a consequence. These consequences break us, mould us, and take the shape of an evolved individual.
But what’s ironic is that while we tread through the ups and downs of life, we also learn that if we need to live, we also need to step away from the rules at times.
So, what kind of rule-breaking are we talking about here? I am talking about the ones that don’t cause harm to you or others.
We stick to some rules because we are too harsh on ourselves. For instance, I love chocolate cake. I know that it contains tons of calories, and all the hard work I put into keeping myself fit will go down the drain. Yet that soulful and sublime taste of chocolate makes me go weak in my knees.
This may be a tiny fish in the pond kind of an example, but life sometimes presents situations that can make us happy if we only bend or break the rules occasionally.
When Breaking the Rules Turned into Self-love
I grew up in an orderly household. As a child, I was the good one. The one that gave no trouble to my parents. I ensured that I was taking care of myself and was grateful for the freedom of living my dreams. I would never miss a lecture in college (which people thought made me a bore), I would live by the curfew timings, and I respected the monthly travel allowance my parents gave me.
Fortunately, my friend circle too was as obedient as me, and thus I never felt that I wasn’t accepted. But occasionally, we obedient girls too would skip a lecture. We would break the rules and catch that latest movie and spend time just walking on the beach while our teachers wondered where a group of ten girls suddenly vanish?
You see, this rule-breaking gave us a break from monotony. As we grew up and life decided it was time to take on more responsibility, this rule-breaking stuck with us. We gave it a new name, though. For my friends and me, this evolved into a kind of self-love.
Sometimes We Break Rules So That We Can Love Ourselves
As I grew up and the burden of responsibilities increased, I knew that I had to break the rules if I needed to be content with myself. I had to put my foot down and announce that I would be taking a break. That where I go will be informed to people that I care, and I would not like to be disturbed, or if I choose to spend some me-time, that would not be considered selfish.
You see, we define the rules we intend to observe. They give us the direction of how we can make our life easy. But life is never easy. It constantly tests us, and there is a threshold point. A point where we need to live for ourselves and not care about others or, more importantly, not be there for others.
If breaking the rules leads to consequences, so be it. You see, there comes a time in life where people or situations suck every ounce of love, patience, happiness and compassion from our body and mind. To fill ourselves with all these qualities, we crave solitude or the company of people that provide us all this externally. We look for moments where we can be ourselves and yet not be identified in a crowd of people. It’s like getting lost in a book or being a whole new self while dancing to a song that you like.
You see, when we break the rules, we exhibit a side of ourselves that people don’t usually see. It’s as if the very people who know us would term us outright insane. But if those people saw me and questioned me, I would say that at least I am living my life in the most authentic way I know how and if that results in leaving people perplexed, then so be it.
Because we only get one life, we must live it in the best possible way. If that results in breaking the rules, doing away with responsibilities and binge eating a chocolate cake, then so be it.
We have evolved and have learnt to deal with the consequences. Thanks to the punches that life threw at us along the way.
Thanks so much for your time!
