On Being a Rebel

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - H. Jackson Brown Jr.

So here I am, 26 years old with no husband and no children. I up and quit my job as a prosecutor, left my house to my roommates, and moved to Costa Rica for at least 5 months (if my mother thought it was longer she would kill me) to volunteer with a nonprofit called Abriendo Mentes. Decided I needed to take a break from my fast paced life to breathe. Graduated college at 20, law school at 23, and have been on the fast track ever since. I’ve been moving through life so fast that things are passing me by and I’m missing some important moments in my life; I spent my 21^st birthday studying for a law school exam and my 25^th preparing for a jury trial. I’ve decided to rebel against what “I’m supposed to do” and I’m content with what I have chosen. I'm walking by faith, loving life, and will persevere through any obstacles.

The funniest thing about telling people what I was planning to do were the pauses in the conversation.  You could almost hear their thoughts when I told them I resigned from my job to volunteer…for free! Some people think I’ve made a great, courageous decision, while others think I’ve lost it. What the latter don’t realize is that if I went too much longer at that pace I would have truly been “muy loca.” Not that opinions matter because this was a decision made by me for me.

What I’ve realized since deciding to travel this path is that a lot of people want to do something crazy and out of the norm yet don’t for whatever reason or excuse they can come up with. All the other volunteers in my program are young WASPs fresh out of college or in grad school. They are trying to find themselves or scared of entering the work force, and indeed they should be because being a “grown up” is for the birds. I’m the only one that looks like me and the only one, without a spouse, that was established and uprooted myself to be here.

All of this has me thinking... Why are people so afraid of things that are different? Why are Blacks not encouraging this type of behavior and exploration from our youth?