This Is Your Life And You Have To Own It

Your Life. What does that mean to you.

If you were to ask me this question a year or two ago my answer would probably have been, what do you mean? My life is school, grades, how people view me, how I act in front of people, and the faces

I put on in different scenarios. These are not limited to these examples but I put them there to prove a point. My life consisted of everything physical and how people viewed me.  Fast-forward to present day, from my experiences and lessons, I would answer the question differently.

What does my life mean to me? Me? Hmm… that is a good question. My life to me… is meant to be lived.

Lived in the aspect of feeling and experiencing.  Feeling my emotions and absorbing my experiences, good or bad. That is what my life means and what I value.

Everyone is different, but that is mine.  My hope for you however is that what your life means to you is not based upon any judgements of others.  You know why? Because if they are going to sit there and judge the way you speak, the way you act, or the way you react to situations then they truly do not understand the concept of living and what it means.

Living means learning. Living means feeling.  Living means making mistakes. And living means doing. Doing what your little heart desires, within reason of course to your health.

To the main point of this article however is to realize that this life is yours and yours only.  It is not your parents, your grandparents, your friends, your peers, your boyfriend’s, your girlfriend’s, or anything but yours.  What I mean through these examples is when you choose to do something based on how you think they would react or doing so to seek their approval and confirmation.  Having been in that situation before I can relate to feeling the uncontrol and the overwhelming sense of anxiety.

Secondly, if you relate to this can I just say that this is not what you deserve. You were given this life. You were given this one life. If you are trying to live in the expectations others have “set” for you to follow then you will not find what your life truly means to you.  Not genuinely.

Everyone’s circumstances are different and effect each person differently. That is why this can be a difficult topic to write about, really anything about mental health is hard to write about, because how can I as a writer know what you are personally going through and give you advice, through what I have learned, that can genuinely help you to make a break through in your own mind.  The answer for me is: I don’t know.

But that is what I have to accept too, not everyone will feel moved or be effected by my writing. But if it helps one. One person find a little self-discovery then it is worth it to me. Here is what I would say about trying to live your life in others expectations. One day, this may sound morbid but please bear with me on this one, you will wake up and you may not have your parents anymore, your siblings, or the friends that you have now. Don’t focus on that, focus on the fact that you will be surrounded with what you have chosen to surround yourself with.

That’s it. What happens then. Who will you look to in order to make decisions?  To tell you who to see? To tell you what to do? To tell you what you are supposed to like or dislike? Are you catching on a little bit… I hope you are. The earlier to realize this, the earlier you will begin to see that your life is yours. It cannot be anyone else’s because A) why would you want to live someone else’s life, they have their problems as well– you may just not see them. B) you were given your soul, your mind, and your emotions.

These are what matter in the long run. What you will look back when you are old. How happy you felt, how loved you felt, how appreciated you felt. Not whether you got an A + on the math exam or how successful you were in a job that you never really enjoyed.

How do you want to view your life? You choose. But don’t just choose, change.