Set your own standards

If there’s one thing that I’ve learned during this #SummerOfAwesome that’s worth sharing it’s how very important it is to set your own standards.

We say it all the time, to the point of becoming cliche. Live your own life. Be yourself. Do what makes you happy.

That’s all fine and dandy, until your way of being happy and living your own life and being yourself conflicts with someone around you. Until you’ve chosen to do something differently from the way that others around you would chose to do it if they were in the situation themselves.

Now that’s where it get’s tricky, isn’t it?

Because that’s the place where judgment and disdain, and maybe even secret jealousy and other quiet pettinesses come in. Sometimes even from the people closest to us whom we love dearly.

And that’s uncomfortable. Occasionally downright painful.

But.

You know what’s right for you.

Let me repeat that. You know what’s right for you.

Even if you’ve asked for advice and everyone around you thinks it’s better to do it a different way. And even if you initially agreed with them.

Then came that little whisper. That squeaky little voice coming from somewhere deep inside of you, with barely enough courage to be heard. But you heard it. And once you heard it, you couldn’t let it go. And maybe you even obsessed and did a fair amount of hand-wringing about what the right answer is.

And maybe it’s even a little risky what you’re thinking of doing. Maybe they might be wiser, but you just can’t let it go. Because there’s something inside you telling you that you’ve got to live your life the way you want to, doing what feels right to you.

So you forge ahead, risking judgment and maybe even disdain. Or even worse, silent judgment and ridicule behind your back.

Just remember this…you don’t owe your naysayers a goddamned thing.

But you do owe yourself a lot. In fact, you owe yourself everything. Everything you can possibly do in your lifetime. Everything that you can possibly aspire to and make happen.

So put their voices out of your head and stop letting them live your life for you. You know who you are and what you need. And so long as your intentions are good and your motives are pure, fucking go for it!

Set your own standards and live your own life!

Don’t be like the rest of them, darling…