The status quo is the existing state of affairs. Living the way life has always been lived. Traditionally that meant going to college, getting a job, getting married, having a couple kids, tossing in a Golden Retriever and framing that picture perfect life in with a white picket fence. The problem with that image is today it’s not the life most young adults envision for themselves. It may be the life your parents have and the life they wish you to have, but it’s not the life you want. Like any good rebel, you rebel against that image. You reject the status quo! And instead of a follower, you deem yourself a leader. A dreamer. A thinker. A changer. A doer. An innovator. You boldly scream "FUCK YOU" to corporate America, sell all your belongings, pack a small bag and float wherever the wind blows you. You decide you’re going to make the rules and not live by anyone else’s. You kick down the white picket fence and in Jerry Maguire fashion ask, "who’s coming with me?" But unlike Jerry Maguire, you're not onto anything new. You've simply joined a new bandwagon - the new status quo. The minimalist lifestyle, location independent, traditional status quo rejecter, wantrepreneur, blah blah blah.
Remember those emo/goth/punk kids we all went to high school with? They all thought they were so different for dressing in black and listening to alternative music. But the reality is they weren’t different at all! There were 50 of them at the same school and thousands more just like them at other schools. And their so-called alternative music wasn’t much of an alternative at all! It was mainstream and not unique in the least...just like them. They too felt they were rebelling and rejecting the status quo. Laughable.
All this talk on the Internet about living a minimalist lifestyle and being location independent and rejecting the status quo really does make me laugh (and vomit). They think they are changing the world and opening up people’s eyes to some brand new way of thinking and living. NONE of it is brand new info at all! It’s taking the same age-old hippie mentality from the 60s and digitally repackaging it to fit modern times filled with tech savvy peers. So instead of burning their bras in protest, they add a Twitter hashtag to let the public know where they stand on a subject matter. And instead of hanging a paper banner on the side of a rusted VW van, they paste a pixilated one on their glossy blog. Same message, just a different way to deliver it.
Maybe it’s just me, but I’m not cool with couch surfing after the age of 22 when I should be an adult with an actual home address. And I’m not cool with only having one pair of crusty socks I have to wash 7 days a week because having more than a dozen items to my name clouds my minimalist thinking. (What kind of A.D.D. shit is that?)
The reality is that thinking and doing and living for oneself has been going on for years! So all the minimalists, location indies, status quo rejecters and wantrepreneurs can stop acting like they are onto something new. There are millions of you out there and you can’t click 2 links deep on the web without bumping into one of your clones/drones.
I look at it the same way I look at religion. I don’t give a shit what people do or believe in, just don’t cram your beliefs down my throat and insist everyone should follow you. I don’t cram my entrepreneurship lifestyle on everyone because it’s not FOR everyone. And that is perfectly fine because running your own company doesn’t make you better than everyone else. And it certainly doesn’t make me different than any of the other billion start-up founders out there. What I would like to see is for everyone to stop bashing each other's lifestyle choices regardless if you follow the traditional status quo, the new status quo, or no status quo at all. What makes one person happy won't necessarily make another person happy. One lifestyle does not fit all.
I realize this post makes me sound like a hypocrite because I’m bashing those who bash others. But that’s exactly my point! To show them how it feels to have their lifestyle choices bashed on the same way they bash on the lifestyle choices of others. And to show those following the New Status Quo that what they are doing and preaching about isn’t some new revolution they started. But mostly it’s to show those following the Old Status Quo, or no Status Quo at all, that they aren’t some loser who’s doing it wrong. There is no right or wrong way to live. Like I said, one lifestyle does not fit all.
It’s VERY IMPORTANT to remember that the Internet always makes things (and people) look bigger and better than they truely are. So when you see countless blog posts and Tweets and all this talk about rejecting the status quo, you'll be mislead into thinking everyone is doing it! Then you'll probably fall into the mind trap of thinking "hey, that might work for me too - that will make me happy." But more than likely you'll discover it's not the right fit. And I don’t want anyone to ever feel bad about that.
***NOTE***
Related post of interest and equally as offensive:
11/9/09 - You're Personal Branding Yourself As A Narcissistic A-Hole
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