I want you to step outside the box. Not just think outside of it, no. Like crawl right on out from it, kick it to the side, then take a match to it.

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired as hell of pulling pre-assembled boxes off the assembly line – with their neat, little labels already slapped on – and living out of them. Trying to cram and fit myself into them. Because it’s normal. Because it’s accepted. Because they told us to. Because someone out there is threatened by the fact that you DON’T want to be in the box.

As a kid, it’s perfectly acceptable to color outside the lines. We praise kiddos for doing the damn thing – like anything they want. Scribbles. Half-finished. Something else drawn on top of what’s there. A one color wonder or too many colors to count. You catch the drift.

The same rule doesn’t seem to apply to adults. But it should. We’re judged on precision, color scheme, accuracy, and attention to detail. There is no room for creativity, abstract thought, or personal artistic interpretation. We only seem to be praised by the norm – what is considered widely and generally accepted by the majority. To live outside the lines, well, that simply just won’t do.

You should want to be normal.
You should want to fit in.
You should want to do what everyone else is doing.
You should want to think and feel what everyone else does.
You should want to have what everyone else has.
You should want out of life what everyone else does.
You should care about the same things they do.
You should care about what those people think of you.

Look the same. Love the same. Live the same. Believe the same. Think the same. Act the same. Educate the same. Heal the same. Grieve the same. Grow the same. Work the same. Want the same. Do the same.

But here’s the thing,
WE AREN’T THE SAME.

You will be judged for coloring outside the lines.

Do it anyway.

You will be ridiculed, misunderstood, envied, bullied, threatened, rejected, called out, guilted, shamed, thwarted, gossiped about, secretly coveted while outwardly having insecurities vomited upon you – all when you choose to step out of that box and over those imaginary lines.

DO IT ANYWAY.

Because there is not a damn person out there who knows how to put color to your life like you do.

Your creative freedom, your creative expression, is your truth. Don’t let anyone make you feel like you aren’t a masterpiece of your own design. We’re not meant to be perfect, just real.

Live confidently and unapologetically as you, squiggly lines and all. Fuck those people. Kick ’em to the curb alongside those boxes. Just don’t take a match to them, that would be frowned upon.