As a journalism major and writing minor, I spend a lot of my time writing. I love doing it and like to think I’m pretty good at it, so I don’t mind. However, something about it has been bothering me lately, and I realized that its overarching theme actually affects everyone.I recently had to turn in a short story for my fiction writing class to be read and critiqued by my class and professor. It’s always a learning experience, but this time I found myself annoyed. My classmates said things like, “I’m not sure why your character did this.” or “There’s not any justification for your character to do that.” And that got me thinking: Why do we need to justify everything we do?

It seems to be that these days everyone needs to have a reason for everything that they do. If someone wants to lose a few pounds, it’s assumed that they have a big event or occasion coming up. Or if someone wants to get a 4.0 this semester, they must be trying to get into a certain graduate school. Why is it so strange for us to do things for the sake of health or knowledge?

I really don’t think I should have to explain to someone why I like to listen to #SELFIE on repeat, just like someone else shouldn’t have to explain why they believe it’s the degradation of society. You can like what you like, hate what you hate, and do what you want to do -- and guess what: you can do it JUST BECAUSE. 

Obviously, there are exceptions to the rule. Why didn’t you study for your midterm? You should probably have a good reason for that. Why did you break up with your boyfriend? Probably not the best thing to do on a whim. But, if you want to spend your whole paycheck on a new Kate Spade purse (not speaking from experience or anything), that’s your business.

Not everyone’s going to agree with you, and you’ll never make everyone happy. So you might as well unapologetically do what you want.

I always think about this when I hear the song “Follow Your Arrow” by Kacey Musgraves. Even if you’re not a country fan, I urge you to listen to the song or read the lyrics online. It’s literally impossible to please everyone, so you might as well please yourself and those you care most about.

You may be asking, Why did I write this? Because I wanted to, that’s why. Now I’m going to go listen to #SELFIE a couple hundred more times.