When making decisions about what shirt to buy, what color of shoes to get, what hairstyle to go with, among other things, we sometimes take into account what others might think. I’ll admit, before I’ve bought things I’ve thought about if they would be too nerdy, too out of style, or not cute to anyone else. As terrible as it sounds, it happens to a lot of people. Today, a lot of emphasis is put on fitting in, going with what others do, relating to each other, and doing what is expected.

What emphasis should be put on is doing our own thing and not caring what everyone else is going to think. We should be buying that shirt we can’t stop looking at because we like it that much. We should be ordering whatever we want at a restaurant because it looks so good, going to get another piercing because it’s cute, or picking a hobby because we think it is fun or a way to relax.

It’s easy to have what people think and have told us in the back of our minds when making decisions like that. It’s normal to want to fit in with everyone else and to not stand out, but we should realize it only matters what we think and what we want. We won’t truly be happy unless we do everything keeping in mind what we want.

TV shows, commercials, and magazines apparently show the ideal figures for women, how we should look and how we should dress. We aren’t meant to live trying to make other people happy and live up to their expectations. We are meant to live up to the expectations we make for ourselves. Part of being happy with our own decisions is living a positive lifestyle. It’s important to have a positive family, friends, and having a positive mind. Having a negative friend or someone in your life doesn’t help if you’re trying to make a better you.

As hard as it can be, you will be healthier and happier if all negative people or things are shut out. Doing everything for you for once instead of everyone else can be tough. I learned the hard way, but you can’t help everyone else’s problems or situations. What we can help is our own problems and situations. As much as it hurts, it’s okay to say no. It’s okay to worry about yourself for a little while. Often to help others in the best way we can, we have to help ourselves first. Next time we go out, we should buy whatever we want from wherever we want. We should order all the food we want. It should be what we want from now on, to make us happy.