I love it when someone challenges something I’ve written.  My blog last week affected a few people so much they reached out to tell me what they thought.

Some agreed with what I’d written and a few like Kim, told me I was wrong, wrong, wrong.   

A few of the comments I heard were:
     “Rules are made to be broken”
     “The ends justify the means.”

To a point, I agree.  As a woman who owned a manufacturing company in the 90’s, I frequently wrote my own rules; the ones that fit the male owners didn’t fit my style and didn’t feel right.

In the world of rules there are three kinds:  legal, societal and self-imposed.

You should never break legal rules.  Legal rules are the laws of the land and the United States is a country of laws.  People get tripped up thinking fraud, downloading copyrighted material or harassment are only moral or ethical issues.  They are, but they’re also illegal.

Then there are societal rules that are more complex.  They deal with morality and ethics and are subject to perspective and circumstance.  We may break these rules from time to time and feel badly about it.  We err, realize we’re human and ultimately forgive ourselves and if we’ve harmed others, pray that they will forgive us too.

The rules that you have the most control over are self-imposed rules.  Self-imposed rules are those which you make for yourself and that no one else asks you to accept.  They often begin with words like:
     “I’ll never….”
     “I won’t….”
     “But I’m not…..”
     “I don’t have enough….”

Some people live their entire life constricted by self-imposed rules, too afraid, too entrenched or too cowardly to break free.  What a waste.

But self-imposed rules can be broken.  Take charge of your life; swim upstream, take risks, follow your dreams and work on eliminating the self-imposed rules that hold you back.  Live the life you were born to live, with love, enthusiasm and passion.