6:31
Years ago, I’m not even sure how old I was, I started setting my alarm clock for 6:31 am instead of 6:30. It happened by accident. As I was setting the alarm, I accidentally passed by 6:30 and started to go back through the numbers to set it to the “right time” but I stopped myself. I realized it didn’t really matter. Who cares if my alarm is set for 6:30 exactly? Ever since that day, I always set my alarm to a random number. I think in some way, it was my attempt at rebelling against the man. I just figured, who are “they” to tell me I have to set my alarm to a perfectly rounded number? They aren’t, I decided, and moved on without a second thought.
Several years after that, when I was first dating my husband, he noticed this little anomaly and questioned me about it. My response? Why should I set it for 6:30, it’s not like it really matters? I still get to where I’m going. To this, he laughed and said “I guess you’re right.” That’s the great thing about my husband. He accepts that I can’t do what everybody else is doing just because that’s what they’re doing. He knows I have to know ‘the why’ behind something if I’m going to keep doing it. And, he knows that if I can’t see a good reason for doing it that way, I’m just not going to do it.
Really though, why should I? Why should you? I’m no longer willing to accept that this is “the way it is”, meanwhile rebelling in small ways. If I see that something just isn’t working for me, I’m going to embrace it. Hopefully, by embracing that something isn’t right, I’ll be able to see an alternative that is. And I’ll probably keep setting my alarm clock for 6:31, just as a reminder that I don’t have to do things the way everybody else does them, and I’ll still get to where I’m going.
