In life, there are certain things one should never settle for. Of course, there are the little things, like never settling for a bad cup of coffee or an uncomfortable pair of shoes. But then there are the bigger things in life, like being second best to the person you love or sticking with a job that makes you unhappy just because the pay is enough for you to have a comfortable lifestyle.

Often enough, we find it simpler to settle for the bigger things and choose to complain about the bad cup of coffee. My question is, why do we do this to ourselves? Why do we allow ourselves to settle for so much less than we are worth?

My theory is when we're comfortable with something (or someone), we have a hard time leaving it, no matter how detrimental that thing or person is to us. We settle because we're okay living a life of mediocre comfort rather than making a significant change to better ourselves. But what would happen if we didn't let ourselves settle for conformity?

First of all, I bet we'd be a whole lot happier. We could stop making big life decisions based on the opinions of others and just truly do what is best for ourselves. We could stop putting ourselves in last place last just to satisfy someone.

We could leave the jobs that we dread waking up for every morning, because God only knows your life is worth more living than an 8-5 day job could ever deliver. We could go to school for the career we've always wanted to do, yet doesn't pay quite as well, because our future of happiness is more important than a dollar value.

When we choose not to settle, we open up an endless amount of opportunities for ourselves. We allow happiness into our lives and we get what we have deserved all along.