I Hate Conforming

I've been thinking about this topic a lot. I still don't have a grasp on exactly how to describe this trait of mine nor do I have the words to describe it exactly.

Help me with this, will ya?

I hate conforming. I hate doing something that other people are doing. I hate the group mentality that comes along with trends. I hate the idea of doing something just because others expect you to or because others are doing it.

I rebel against these kinds of situations. (These are usually small and often internal rebellions.)

I don't like being thrown into a group. I like doing my own thing. I like having my own very specific reason and motivations for doing whatever I do.

Let me provide some situational instances to help you (possibly) understand me.

Choosing a College

Throughout high school I really only seriously considered two schools: Brigham Young University and the University of Utah. My family lived in Utah at the time, and these were two schools I knew well and that had good dance and communications programs. (Because even my 15-year-old self knew I wanted to dance and...communicate.) Since I had two older sisters who went to BYU, my preference was that school.

Then my family moved across the country.

Hello Northern Virginia and a whole new group of young folk deciding where to attend college. I assumed that most would want to attend school on the East Coast. I DIDN'T realize how much of a draw my LDS (also known as Mormon) friends would have to MY No. 1 pick for school (which, for those of you who don't know, is a private university owned by the LDS Church.) But every one of my LDS friends also wanted to attend BYU. And come acceptance time, every conversation among us consisted of "I got into BYU!" "I got into BYU!" "My other friend got in too!" "Hey, everyone got into BYU" ... I hated this. I told very few people when I was accepted. I told even fewer that I decided to attend. I avoided the people who would ask "Hey, are you going to BYU, then?"

Because I didn't want to admit it. I didn't want to be another tally mark on the list of Mormon seniors from Northern Virginia who, guess what, attended BYU.

Just so you know, I love BYU and loved that I earned my degree there. And I even loved having many of my VA friends there too.  

Teaching Zumba and Zumba Culture
Part 1: I've loved Zumba since classes first appeared here in Utah County. I attended class long before the hype built up to what it is now. We had small, intimate classes with the best instructors, and I had fun telling people about this great, new, dance fitness class I loved. Then, it started picking up. Everyone who I attended classes with started getting certified to teach the class. At the time, I didn't seriously think about doing that too, but another year down the line with some changes in my career and people telling me that I should teach, I started considering it.

But I held back. Why? Because EVERYOONNNNEE (in my area at least) teaches Zumba. I didn't want to jump on that train and be grouped in with the trend. Eventually I had enough personal motivation to do the certification, and I haven't looked back.

Part 2: There's a trend in Zumba to splatter yourself with as many colors and mentions of Zumba as you can. Sure, I have my fair share of Zumba clothing...I've dipped my toe in this trend, I admit. But I'm over it. I'm over the questions of "Oh, did you see the new Zumba collection?" and "I just spent my whole paycheck on Zumba clothes" and "OMG, there's a new shirt I don't have." Yes, I like having some Zumba clothes. But there are lots of other brands I like better for most of my workouts.

There's also a mentality to worship our "Zumba celebrities" and attend every class, master class, training session as possible. With these celebrity instructors or trainers come to town, the Zumba community goes crazy. Part of this I support. (Continuing education, new ideas for your classes, and learning from mentors, etc.) But the other part seems to be motivated by the group mentality and the expectation that I too should be crazy about every aspect of this world. What? I'm not going (or want to) go to the big Zumba party? What? I don't own any of Zumba's shoes? What? I didn't sign up for the new training the instant it was available? WHAAAT?

I'm not doing a great job at explaining this. I'm not doing a great job at understanding this. These are just two examples of how this mentality affects part of my decision making in life. It's weird. That's all.