We’ve been handed a world that was created by others, shaped by their thoughts and actions, and told that this is the way things must be.

We’ve been given a set of rules that are at root only opinions of the majority, and have been told that these are objectively, morally correct, immutable truths.

We’ve been sat down to play a game that is rigged — a game that, even if we win, gives us something other than what we believed we would receive in victory.

And if we don’t begin to consciously question the rules of our world and to look closely at the game we’re unwittingly playing, then we will never get what we want.

It’s time to look. Assess. Investigate. Choose. And, where appropriate, to disobey.

This essay follows the author’s path from a life of “good kid” conformity in youth to his present-day decisions to start his own business, “unschool” his children, and to give up on what is not working. It’s his manifesto of freedom and of conscious choice, and it can be yours, too.

If life is not what you wanted or expected it to be, this essay will help you to become more. To question norms. To disobey.