Rebel Talk: Do You

I woke up this morning in Sint Maarten to the sound of waves instead of sirens, palm trees instead of push notifications, sunlight instead of headlines. And in that quiet, something hit me that I don’t think you can feel when you’re standing inside the noise… you have to step outside of it to even realize how loud it was.

Minnesota right now feels heavy. Cloudy. Chaotic. Not just the weather, but the energy. The conversations. The constant scroll of outrage, fear, and somebody-else-did-something-to-somebody-somewhere. Venezuela. ICE. Fraud. Protests. Politics. It’s all anyone talks about. It’s in every feed, every news channel, every bar TV, every group chat. You can feel it weighing on people’s shoulders when you walk into a coffee shop. Everyone is tense. Everyone is distracted. Everyone is mad about something they didn’t personally experience.

And then there’s here.

Two little countries on one island — French on one side, Dutch on the other — just sitting out in the middle of the Caribbean like a reminder that the world is a whole lot bigger than the story we’re being fed back home. Nobody here is talking about any of that. No one is glued to a cable news screen. No one is screaming into a phone. People are swimming. Laughing. Working. Eating. Living.

The chaos didn’t follow me here.

That’s when it hit me: the world you experience is the world you choose to stand inside.

I came here when I was about fifteen with my parents. I came back again four years ago for the first time since. And now here I am again — this time with my parents and my girlfriend — and the timing couldn’t be more perfect. Life back home has been loud. Between running businesses, raising boys, managing schedules, and dealing with the emotional leftovers of a past life, it’s been a grind lately. Add in the national anxiety machine, and it can start to feel like you’re drowning in everyone else’s panic.

Even my ex-wife got pulled into it — going downtown Minneapolis to “suit up” and play security for reporters. Why? I don’t know. How does that help her life? I don’t know. How does it move her forward, protect her peace, or build her future? I don’t know.

And here’s the wild part… I don’t have to know.

That’s freedom.

We all “do us.” Some people do chaos. Some people do drama. Some people do outrage. Some people do victimhood. Some people do growth. Some people do peace. Some people do forward.

None of it is accidental.

Standing here, barefoot in the sand, watching my parents laugh, holding my girlfriend’s hand, knowing my boys are back home counting down the days until we’re all together again… it’s impossible not to feel how much of life is a choice. Not in a fake “just think positive” way, but in a very real, very grounded, very practical way.

You get to decide what gets access to you.

You get to decide what voices live in your head.

You get to decide what world you wake up in every morning.

“Do you” isn’t selfish. It isn’t dismissive. It’s survival. It’s strength. It’s choosing not to be dragged into other people’s storms when you’re trying to build something beautiful.

For me, “doing me” means building a life that gives the best version of me to the people who matter most — my parents, my incredible girlfriend, my kids, and all of you who ride with Relentless Rebel. It means not wasting my emotional energy on things that don’t grow me, protect me, or move me forward.

It doesn't have to mean going to Sint Maarten. It might be a weekend away. A night alone. A long walk without your phone. A gym session where the only voice you hear is your own breath. A drive with the windows down and the radio off. Something — anything — that cuts the noise and brings you back to yourself. Whatever it is, do it now.

Because life outside the chaos exists.

I’m standing in it right now.

And once you feel it, really feel it, you realize something powerful… the noise only has power if you keep tuning into it. A Relentless Rebel isn’t someone who fights every battle. A Relentless Rebel is someone who knows which battles aren’t worth fighting at all.

So do you.

Do whatever it takes to protect your peace.

Do whatever it takes to reset.

Do whatever it takes to build the life you actually want, not the one the world keeps trying to sell you.

The chaos will still be there when you get back.

But you’ll be stronger, clearer, and more grounded… and that changes everything.

Stay Relentless,

Ryan