Stop living for everyone else. Life doesn’t have to be made up of rules and guidelines. Don’t get lost trying to make sure your life lines up with society’s expectations.
I recently went to a Louis C.K. concert in Milwaukee, WI, and he had an interesting mantra within his show. Through all of his suicide and hating-your-own-children jokes, he was constantly reminding his audience that your life is completely in your own hands and you can change everything in an instant.
He talked about things in a more sarcastic manner, telling us that if we just killed ourselves all of our problems would go away. Even the world’s problems would go away…for us. Through his dark sense of humor, though, I got the point: My life is my own, and I can do anything I want at any second of the day. I left with laughing tears in my eyes and a different outlook on life in my head.
I feel like we often forget that life doesn’t need to be completely mapped out ahead of time. We get so caught up in trying to look successful to others that we forget about the things that truly make us happy. I think it’s silly that we all do our best to carry out the “American Dream”, when so many of us regret all the things we missed out on afterwards.
Just because people have been living cookie cutter lives for centuries doesn’t mean we have to continue their legacy. There is absolutely nothing saying that we have to graduate high school, go off to college, get a great job, get married, have kids or settle down for the rest of our lives. There's not even anything saying you need to do them in that order. None of these things are guaranteed to make you happy, so you shouldn’t do them just to look good to others.
If you’re more interested in traveling the world alone or don’t want any kids, that’s fine. If you want to get married immediately after high school and have 14 kids, that’s fine, too. The moral of the story is you can do whatever you want. Nothing is stopping you from complete and utter happiness but yourself, so don’t let other people’s opinions on how you should live your life affect what you’re doing. As long as you’re happy that’s all that matters.
Even more, though, C.K.’s point can be applied to everyday things. You can quit going to a class you hate, kiss the person you have a crush on or quit your job right now. You have that power. You can completely change your life with one decision.
That choice is both terrifying and empowering at the same time. You have the whole world in your hands. It’s up to you what your life will end up like. Will you live as others want you to? Or will you start living for yourself?
