Rebel scum

This week in the Blaugust 2023 blogging festival, the broad theme is "Introduce yourself." Yesterday I alluded to my bardolatry and its place in the cornerstone of Quintessence of Dust, but that's not really an introduction. So here is a bit more about me: I love the Star Wars universe and I'm into evolution, and both of those things are deeply connected to my main tendency—I'm a rebel.

That might sound romantic and all, but I'm actually being somewhat precise and referring to some useful counsel I got in the past few years as I considered Gretchen Rubin's Four Tendencies. The Rebel tendency describes me all too well. I hate being told what to do. I hate being controlled. I hate even suspecting that I'm being controlled. Here's how Rubin captures much of my life: "Telling a Rebel what to do makes them less likely to do it, even if it’s something they want to do."

There are advantages to being a Rebel but big weaknesses as well. Another tagline of the Rebel tendency is this LOLsob-inducing truism: "You can’t make me, and neither can I." So, the perhaps obvious disadvantage is that it can be extra difficult to get tasks done whenever there is a sense that someone or something is ordering it to be done. I'm not lazy; in fact, I work too much. But whenever I sense that someone is telling me what to do, I have to work around my natural instinct to resist their brazen attempt to control me. (Heh.) Otherwise, I'll find ways to not do the task (or meet the obligation, or whatever).

What are the advantages of that tendency? Are there any?