Be a Rebel

I have been breaking the rules and bucking the system practically all my life.

A high school teacher told me I needed to get married right after high school because I was not smart enough to take care of myself. I run my own business today. I take care of myself.

I have a debilitating health condition. The doctor told me to settle for an easy career. I disregarded her advice.  I wanted to be a dentist. 

A college professor told me that girls could not understand organic chemistry. I got a perfect score on his final exam and earned an 'A' in every science course after that class. This same professor wanted me to continue my studies once he realized that I could, indeed understand chemistry.  They offered me a job after graduation, but I wanted to be a dentist. I did not want to work for him; I wanted to work for myself.

I attempted to obtain early acceptance to dental school even though my college adviser warned me that no postgraduate school would accept a student without a college degree. I was accepted to the University of Tennessee, College of Dentistry three hours short of a degree.  I am the only dentist I know without undergraduate degree.

In dental school, pregnant women were expected to drop out and join the following class after the birth of their baby.  Of course, I got pregnant, but I fought to stay in school and graduated on time with my class.


After graduation, I found that conventional lenders refused to finance a poor girl with no collateral. After exhausting every avenue, I opened the doors to my practice $260,000 in debt with only $100.00 in my checking account.

Most of my business advisers said I would go broke if I limited my practice to children and accepted Medicaid. Today, my office collects over one million dollars annually.

Against the better judgment of some of our friends, my husband and I fostered an illiterate, rowdy little seven-year old black girl whose mother had a drug problem. Today, she is at the top of her class, and works summers in my dental practice.

Most of the things I achieved in life were accomplished because someone at sometime told me it could not be done.  Instead of giving in, I got my back up. 

Have you ever been rejected or told you could not achieve something?  Did it motivate you or did it knock you on your back?  Do you question the rules or do you follow them blindly?  Let the people who discourage you propel you to achieve your goals.

This year, decide to break out of the conventional way of doing things and forge your own path.  Determine your  future. Be a rebel.