Clean your plate. Get a job with benefits. Match your socks.
There are all kinds of social norms out there that adults subscribe to. But according to Jason Kotecki, author of "Penguins Can’t Fly + 39 Other Rules That Don’t Exist," following such self-imposed rules can cause "adultitis" — in other words, a case of acting too much like an adult.
"Anyone who is in health care would probably know that adultitis literally means 'swelling of the adult.' It’s like, too much adult in your life and it crowds out that inner child a little bit," Kotecki explained. "It’s a disease that happens when you forget what it was like to be a kid. It limits us and keeps us from being creative and fun, and keeps us in stuck thinking."
Kotecki said there are negative effects to being stuck in adultitis.
"The number one side effect of adultitis is stress," he said. "Chronic stress has been linked to every single thing we could possibly die from, whether it’s cancer, or things like heart disease, or suicide even."
One of Kotecki’s 40 rules that don't exist, "Thy Cookies Shalt Be Beautiful," is an example of an arbitrary rule that's easy to rebel against — specifically, by creating an ugly cookie.
"We don’t have to compete with Martha Stewart. I don’t know that we could," he said. "You get so stressed out trying to make it look beautiful. Why not just go in the other direction?"
Kotecki has a story that shows why another rule, "Thou Shalt Always Be Careful," is also one that's good to break: "Once upon a time, there was a girl who was raised by her grandmother in a magical forest. The old woman was always telling her to be careful, so she was. And nothing awesome ever happened to her. The End."
While Kotecki doesn’t advise breaking laws or rules that are there for reasons of safety, he did say that taking risks leads to more opportunities.
"I think if we can be careful, we won’t make mistakes. But sometimes the magic happens when you’re taking risks," he said.