So to “rebel” is to do something against something established.I would push that definition to include to do something that feels “wrong”. That’s against the rules.

Therefore, I believe that we all have a rebel gene.Firstly, it’s probably not a gene. That’s just some shit I made up. But basically, I believe that we all have something in our DNA (i.e. something we can’t change, eliminate, or even add, something we don’t have a choice over), that makes us NEED to do certain things that are against the rules. That wants us to do something, anything, that FEELS wrong, illegal, or bad, that we know we shouldn’t do. I think that, to various degrees, we each can control it differently, but we all have it. Just like any other “gene”, it’s stronger in others, and some have more or less control over the “rebel urges” than others. Just like each of us has different levels of control over other “human impulses”. From having a drink, to murdering someone, humans all have “urges” (come on, don’t tell me you’ve never thought of killing that asshole) that they control to various degrees. Hence why you and I aren’t in prison for murder, and some are.

So what does “against the rules” mean? Well, that’s another variable.

If you have strong morals/values, than many things are against the rules. Jaywalking can feel to you as rebellious as killing does for someone who has very little morals/values. Your rules just don’t come from the same place. And rules can be both internal (i.e. your core values, what YOU think is wrong or right), or external (i.e. the society you live in, the laws of your government, etc). But bottom line, I believe that everyone eventually wants, no, needs to break some type of rules at some point. In our society, killing a cat is wrong. In other societies, eating a cat is normal. So for us to eat a cat would be a “rebellious” act and feed the rebel urge, but in other places, it would be a normal recurrence.

Think about stuff you do that you feel is wrong. Smoking, drinking, NOT working out, coming in late to work, leaving early, the aforementioned jaywalking… Next time you do one of those things, and we both know you “break the rules” on a daily basis, think about how that makes you feel? That little sparkle deep inside that feels “satisfying” that you did something you weren’t supposed to.

So, some people control this better than others. Some can do occasional things that are against the rules. Some need to do this on a daily basis, others, hourly. Some can feed the urge with a simple wrongdoing, others need to go to extremes to feel satisfied.

So they say that the first step is to admitting that you have a problem… If you admit that you have this gene (not that it’s problem, it’s just a fact of life, but realizing that it exists is the first step to noticing it, and hopefully understanding it, and then controlling it), and start to recognize the patterns, you’ll quickly realize when you do it, how it makes you feel when you do feed the urge, and hopefully, WHY you do it, and then you can start figuring out if it’s a “white lie” type of rule breaking, or a major “illegal” type rule breaking, and will therefore make it easier to change…

Think about it. Try to notice it. And let me know what you think in the comments.