“If you’re doing something outside of dominant culture, there’s not an easy place for you. You will have to do it yourself.”

Whether we want to believe it or not, things like our age, gender, race, and socioeconomic background play a factor in where we go to school, when, if we attend college, what we major in, the career we pursue, when we start a family. The list goes on. Simply put, a lot of what happens in our life is already laid out for us per our dominant culture. But once in a while, we step outside of our trajectory.

As this quote by Ava DuVernay reminds us, paving a different path isn’t always going to be easy. It might feel uncomfortable, and there may be moments we feel like we’re all on our own. We may not have anyone else to rely on, and we can’t expect anyone to give us permission to go the uncommon route. But this quote reminds us to rely on and trust in ourselves. It also reminds us that, sometimes, only we can give ourselves the green light.