I’ve spent most of my life living someone else’s.
I struggled with nothing more than how to most conform to whatever image I had in my head of what everyone else wanted. Never did I actually stop and wonder what it was that I wanted.
There was very little of me in anything that I was doing. There was very little of my dreams except for the dreams that I created in order to satisfy those around me. I crafted a story that was best told at the Thanksgiving dinner table once a year when I came together with family and I needed to tell them something that was satisfying.
I felt empty when I realized that I had spent years pursuing things that I thought other people wanted for me. I fell into deep, deep depression.
Suddenly it was as if the foundations of my life had been torn brutally away. There was nothing left.
It took me a long time to get back on my feet; to be able to smile; to have hope; to have confidence; to speak confidently about what I’m doing with my life.
It took me a long time and yet I would relive it one hundred times because I’m so grateful to have realized that there’s a choice you can make: to live your life based on what other people want for you or to live your life making your own decisions.
How are you going to choose to live?
