Learning Unlearning: Disrupting the Status Quo

Have you ever thought about the things you do everyday? Are there things you do intentionally or not? In reflecting on the theme of “unlearning,” I have noticed that there are a lot of things I do on autopilot. Why? Because they are things from how to fold my laundry to how I tie my shoes, that I have learned growing up and have stayed with me into adulthood. I have done certain things without any thought and have done some things a particular way since I can remember. They have become my status quo. 

In defining what is a status quo, it means your current situation, the way things are, an existing state of affairs. We become comfortable with the status quo because it is familiar. And when things are familiar, we can become content with the ways things are. However, this level of comfortability can lead to closed-minded ways of thinking and doing. This has led me to begin to ask and reflect on why I do what I do or think. 

Not to Question is a form of Oppression

There are many systems we have in place from how a bill becomes a law, to how to start a business, to how we receive different goods and services. Some of these systems that are in place are to create order, while others are out of tradition. When it comes to traditions, it is often taboo to question it. But, I now raise the question of why not question it? Why must we always accept things for the way they are? It is no secret that many of our systems were created and designed to maintain a particular order where some receive and keep power, while others never get or keep it. But when we don’t question these systems and structures, we fit in and uphold the world oppressors have devised. We preserve the institutions that have been created and who they were created for. 

Questioning is the Beginning of Liberation

When we start asking questions, we begin to challenge and disrupt the status quo. We can start to look beyond the limits of what is front of us and see the possibilities of what can be. Through our questions, we can consider new perspectives and ways of doing and thinking. However, this does require a level of openness. It also depends on us being comfortable with being uncomfortable. Disrupting the status quo and asking questions can lead to changing the systems we live in everyday. \

So Why Change?

Change is inevitable. We are not stagnate individuals. We are always evolving and shifting. Change is part of growth. But we can’t change without a challenge. And to challenge, is to question. Questioning leads to disruption. Disruption is part of the process of unlearning what we know and are comfortable with, to adapt to the needs of the ever-changing world. 

My question to you is, how are you disrupting the status quo in your lives everyday?