Disobedience Day

Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.

Henry David Thoreau

Who wants to be good all the time? Always playing precisely by the rules can get boring after a while, not to mention how many creative thoughts can be lost forever if their authors are too busy obeying someone else to follow their own heart. Disobedience day is all about breaking free a little, living a little, and doing your own thing for a change even if you don’t have permission. In a time when it sometimes seems as though our entire lives are controlled by corporations and camera monitor our every move, that sounds pretty refreshing, indeed.

History of Disobedience Day

Disobedience Day was created some time ago by people who were simply tired of having to spend their entire lives doing what someone told them to. And who could blame them? They do seem to have a valid point. From the moment we’re born, there are always people around us telling us what we should do and making demands of us—first, our parents, then our teachers, then our bosses and our spouses, not to mention of course the law. And although having certain rules in our lives to live by is undoubtedly a good thing that helps us keep balanced and stable, it is easy for us to feel like we’ve had enough of constantly having to obey someone. Disobedience Day exists so decent, law-abiding people can take a break and let loose a little.

How to celebrate Disobedience Day

Disobedience Day does not mean that you should go out of your way to break the law for the sake of excitement, as that could prove dangerous in the short-term and detrimental in the long term. Disobedience Day will of course mean something different to each individual person, so spend this day doing things you’ve wanted to do for a while but have refrained from. Simple as it may sound, a simple change in routine has been shown to improve people’s attitude to life just because it makes life just a little more interesting.

So if you always take the exact same bus to work, take a different one. Or walk. Or ride a bicycle. If you feel like you just really need a day off to decompress, perhaps suddenly catching a bout of the flu could get you the time alone you need—just make sure you don’t run into your boss while having lunch at that posh new restaurant on the corner after you’ve called in sick. If you constantly feel like your ideas are being rejected and disregarded at work despite being out-of-the-box and original, do the project your way this time.

Chances are you’ve thought up a solution nobody before you has that will improve both your effectiveness and your position at your company. And even if you fail, failing is the only way to learn, so what’s the harm in it? After all, if everybody in history had been afraid to try out new ideas, chances are we’d still be living in caves and hunting bears with wooden spears. If you feel like your relationship is preventing you from spending time with other people you care about, make the decision to decide for yourself how much time you need to spend with friends and family members instead of allowing someone control that very personal aspect of your life.

All in all, a little disobedience never hurt anyone, so take advantage of this day and live a little!l