Day 223 (Two-Hundred & Twenty Three) of 365 days
I have seen people glorify the idea of how they are so successful at their work because they are hustling 24/7 and have very little time for anything else. I have seen people pursuing their passion to the point where it’s occupying all their time and mind and life until there’s no space for anything else. I have seen other people as well who make their whole world revolve around their relationships. I have noticed how when someone loses one of these things for any kind of reason, they shatter. They don’t have anything else that can distract them or console them or anything that they can escape to or rely on once they lose what used to be their everything.
The extreme thought of having something or someone be everything for you is a very romantic idea. It sounds like the ones you read about in novels and watch in movies or listen to in songs, but no one talks enough about how awful of a thing it is to do this to yourself in reality. This is not what passion or hard work or love is about; none of them means that you should have your entire existence revolve around a single thing and that’s it. That’s not what makes you succeed at something. That’s not what makes you special or a sacrificer or a person who loves fiercely. That’s you romanticizing and glorifying a wrong way of thinking and living. It’s you creating an extreme imbalance in your life out of this belief of the beauty of this extreme idea — to let something just be so damn important that it occupies most of your entire life.
We’ve all had those friends who completely vanish the moment they become Facebook official — we call her to hang out but she already has plans with her boyfriend and his friends. We send her a text but she’s too wrapped up in a Netflix sesh to respond. After one too many attempts to maintain our friendship, it’s clear that her priorities have changed and we give up trying. I refuse to be that girl who lets her other relationships fall to the wayside for the sake of something else.
My point is people change, things change and sometimes you can’t blame them, but if you’re not here for yourself first and preventing yourself from fully enjoying your life by limiting your happiness and life in general, it’s sad. You could meet a shit ton of new people and do a shit ton of new activities hobbies, accomplish a lot, but instead, you choose to focus too much on someone else. Even if it’s multiple people you depend on, it stills applies. In the general chaos of day-to-day life, it’s easy to get caught up. Your mind is wandering, you’ve got a schedule to keep up with, and responsibilities to fulfill. We all seem to forget that time is passing and that we are using up the only life we get to live.
It’s a bit of a balancing act. You should not allow your entire life to be run by everyone else’s expectations. However, it’s also not a good idea to be all about yourself, all the time. Meeting your needs is one thing, putting yourself ahead of everyone and everything else is quite another. Volunteer, donate, listen, and care when it comes to the needs and lives of those around you. Be generous and loving when it comes to leaving your mark on the world. There is no greater thing to leave behind than lives you’ve touched.
Life is a one-time gift and we all get to choose the way we use it. You have the power to decide what’s of the highest value for you but remember, you have to live with every choice you make. Life is about love, laughter, togetherness, adventure, and just plain happiness. Do what you have to do to achieve a meaningful, happy life each and every day.
