You only have one life to live -- your own.
Last week, I went out to eat at Stir Crazy, and that was the saying inside of my fortune cookie.
It took me a while to understand what it meant, but, after reading the essay Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson for my American Literature class, I finally understand what it was saying. Emerson wrote, "I do not wish to expiate, but to live. My life is for itself and not for a spectactle...I must be myself. I cannot break myself any longer for you, or you."
Don't conform, don't settle, because this is the only chance of life you've got. You don't get to live someone else's life...you only get to live your own. But I think so many of us try so hard to live the life of other people. We compare our lives to other people, we get upset about what other people say to us, and we let other people effect us...at least that's my problem. So many people try so hard to make others happy that they are trying to live out the lives of others instead of their own. You will have days when others don't like your decisions, just like there are days when you won't like others decisions. So what? It's your life...just like it's their life, and we need to start living for ourselves and not for other people. If someone else does something you don't like, don't lament on it. Instead, show others who you are by what you do instead of lamenting on what others do, because this will only cause you purposeless anxiety. Because, like I said before, you only have one life to live. Your own.
I'll end with one more quote from Emerson: "Nothing can bring you peace but yourself." You will not be at peace and you will not be happy until you start being happy with yourself instead of focusing on what others think of you.
Photo credit: Getty Images (fortune cookie)
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