Living for Yourself: Shortcut to Peace

photo of my journal, Sept. 2020

Our entire young lives, the phrase "be yourself" is implemented into every new journey we begin. Though we all know being our true self and living for our own happiness is an efficient path to internal peace, it's 1000x easier spoken rather than executed. Many of us struggle with confidence and let our decision making skills become clouded and over-taken with the opinions of others. The presence of social media can cause even more difficulty in this area, as we expose certain areas of our lives to the eyes of spectators. Everyone is always going to produce their own opinions. They're entitled to create these opinions: true or false, kind or unkind, encouraging or spiteful. It's up to you to know that the most important opinion in your life is your OWN opinion, you live the story so you get to write it.

From my perspective, my life became more aligned with my idea of peace once I decided I would spend less time dissecting other's opinions and dedicate much more time to creating my happiness, on my terms. Let's be real, often times what people critique about you are areas they feel they're lacking in themselves. In the midst of training my mind to ignore any outside negativity, I always remind myself that these critiques are more than likely projections. I have met so many adults who waste time tending to outside views, not realizing they have allowed the irrelevant to shelter their potential. Our time here on Earth is valuable and the sooner you learn to maneuver through life your way, the better. As much as I believe our own opinions should affect our happiness the most, I still struggle periodically with dismissing the words of others. It took two years of confidence building for me to finally decide to create this blog and share my writing/thoughts. Living for yourself is ultimately a process that will require adjustments to several areas of your daily life. Remind yourself that the outside opinions do NOT define your reality and activate your pursuit of happiness.

sending love & peace,

KIY