Living Your Life

All my life, I’ve tried to conform to everyone’s standards of being “cool” in order to be liked by others. I never had a lot of friends growing up and to this day I cherish the friends that I consider close. These friends accept me for who I am, weirdness and all. Now I know I’m a lot to handle. As I’ve gotten older, I have set high standards for myself that I live by and that I expect of others.

Not everyone has liked that. They wanted me to live by their standards on what they said I should be and how to live my life. That was to become a doctor, lawyer, engineer, or businesswoman and be successful. I learned from a very young age that I was absolutely horrible at math and science. So doctor and engineer were out. Since everyone wanted me to be in the medical field, becoming a nurse was a still considered a decent and honorable occupation. “It’s still in the medical field and it has flexible hours too” Again, I told them that math and science weren’t my forte and that nursing required both of those.

I knew I wasn’t going to succeed in the medical field so I dropped that idea altogether. I know that I’m more of a creative person so I already know right off the bat that it’s something that I would excel in. What specifically, I’m still trying to figure out. When it comes to relationships (whether it’s with family, friends, or romantic) I’ve been told that I’m uptight and need to loosen up. I over think and worry way too much about the little things. I need to be more driven and proactive. I need to lower my standards when it comes to guys. Now that is a whole other topic and will be saved for a later date.

I do have a point in all this. It’s simple. Screw what everybody else thinks. This is your life and you are the only one that is going to live it. Don’t become a puppet and let someone else live it for you. Set high expectations for yourself and stick to your standards. Stand your ground. The people who meet those expectations and standards will be the ones worth keeping and you will gain a sense of respect from not just others but from yourself. Don’t let people bring you down and make you change our doubt your expectations and standards about yourself.