There are certain things in life that are just completely unheard of. These are things that are so rare you can't believe are actually even happening. As an example, people who don't like guacamole or someone who isn't rooting for Leo to win an Oscar. Those things are basically non existent. Another example is disaffiliating from a sorority. Some see it as the biggest taboo during your college career, some do not even consider it a thing, it is impossible. Disaffiliating from your organization is like Santa Claus being real or just as rare as winning last month's Powerball. Here is the thing though, I was able to disaffiliate from my sorority with so much ease.
Let me start from the beginning. I am not here to upset anyone, just to explain and answer all the unanswered questions. However, keep one thing in mind; Offense can not be given, only taken. My freshman year of college, I was very eager to join a sorority. Everything about it just seemed too amazing: the parties, the boys, sisterhood, the events, the plandids, all of it. I signed up for recruitment and landed myself in the sorority of my dreams. It was all rainbows and butterflies from day one. Everything that was advertised to me, I was given. But just like every fairy tale, it eventually came to an end. I realized that Greek Life was not for me. When you join a social organization you join because it is what you think you want in your life: change, new friends, connections, ya-da-ya-da-ya-da. Here’s the thing with Greek Life though, as perfect as it seems to be, it is not always all that it is cracked up to be. Some people realize it and others never actually do. It's there, not in plain sight but if you really look for it, it is there. So, I disaffiliated. I realized that the superficiality and all of the fakeness simply was not for me. And although I loved the organization that I was in, and would die for some of the girls that I was so blessed to call my sisters, I knew that it all needed to come to an end.
The organization that I was a part of was truly beautiful. The letters, what it stood for, the alumni who took part of our rituals, I ate all that shit up and loved it to pieces. But then my life changed, I grew as a person and the more I grew the more I started to hate the sorority and what Greek Life really was. The actual organization I loved, but the people in it? Not a fan; well not everyone just most. See, when you are in college and your life starts to change, you can begin to head in so many different directions; the direction I headed toward was being a genuine and honest person. Something about XYZ sorority did not match up with the life I wanted to lead.
The concept of Greek Life is actually phenomenal; I have seen many people go into incredible careers because of the connections they have made. To be completely honest, I am still close to those in Greek Life but I could not do it myself. I could not sit in a chapter room with 200 women who claimed to share the same values as myself, because in actuality I hated a huge percentage of them. Greek Life is superficial, it is vain, it is competitive. It was about who had the most Instagram likes, it was about which organization could raise the most amount of money for philanthropies rather than focusing on the actual philanthropy, it was about creating a cult where everyone is a carbon copy of each other. In my eyes, there is no sense of individuality because you are expected to look and act a certain way. When you think differently and try to change things it becomes World War III; suddenly your "sisters," the girls you shared letters and rituals with are going behind your back and talking about you. You suddenly find yourself being attacked; the 200 girls I spent an entire day with at Chapter suddenly began to shoot down all the things I had to share, the reasons they claimed to have given me a bid seemed to be all the things they were trying to change about me.They bash your name to their friends, their cliques, fraternity men. So why would I call you my sister? When I actually just want to avoid you. Are all girls like this? Of course not. But it is all about influence. The prettier sisters, the older sisters, the girls on Executive Board are basically the ring leaders; what they say goes in this dictatorship.
Some like to think I just joined the wrong sorority but I did not see myself anywhere else. Those values were just too amazing to not be a part of. But those girls, those girls who wanted others to feel inferior, those girls who projected their insecurities and angers onto others; unbearable. Maybe this is an explanation article as to why I left or maybe this article will guide someone to do the "unthinkable," the rare. But the breakdown is simple, if you do not like your sorority. If you do not feel comfortable with the girls you must call your sisters, if you do not feel at home, do not put yourself in a situation where you are stuck. When I disaffiliated, as cliche as it sounds, I found out who was there for me and who was not. Who the true friends were and who the fake ones were because they had to be and were basically paying me to follow them on Instagram and wear the same shirts as them. I have respect for myself and what I believe is right and wrong and I was brought down for way too long and humiliated way too much to suffer anymore.
I do not hate Greek Life and although now I am considered a GDI, I probably have way more of the capability to judge what Greek Life is all about rather than those who simply hate it because they do not want to pay for their friends or did not get a bid during recruitment. Like that basic Instagram caption says, "From the outside looking in you don't understand it and from the inside looking out you can't explain it." All I can tell you is that for some it is amazing and for others, it is like a level of hell from Dante's "Inferno."
The outcome? I will never make it on TSM, I can never do a "srat point," I never have to worry about being friends with a boy that some sister had a crazy obsession over, I never have to spend all my money on shirts that have ugly designs. Such a shame isn't it, to worry about these things? I am actually closer to more Greeks now than I was while in it because I am able to make genuine friendships. I love philanthropy and involvements way more now when I can pick and choose what to do rather than being forced to. Sure I will always be frowned upon by multiple XYZ girls, but I have my head up high and the best part of it all; I can say whatever I want, whenever I want and not have to worry about getting in trouble with Executive Board, because let's face it, standards sucks.
