Somewhere along the way I think we have all lost sight of our place in the world. We are always trying to find our fit - the right group of friends, the perfect partner, the right job, the acceptable body image, the correct amount of savings in our nest egg but often that is based on other peoples point of view. Our guardians tell us who are the 'right' sorts of people to spend time with, our friends tell us if the person we like is 'right' for us, society states the level of 'importance' of our job title, magazines suggest what we should look like and in a world where no amount of money is enough, what we 'need' may always seem out of our reach.
We need to take our power back and think about what 'we' want. If it feels like we have chosen something that doesn't fit 'we' can own it and 'we' can learn from it ourselves. The lesson is there for you to learn - its 'your' life.
Two baby girls are born into the world - they are twins. Red faced and wrinkly they appear identical in everyway. Mum and Dad are overwhelmed with joy to have been graced with not one but two beautiful healthy girls. Years pass and the girls are now 30 years old. They look similar like they could be sisters but they certainly no longer look the same. One looks old and the other looks young. One is successful and the other is not. One is underweight whilst the other is overweight. One is married and the other is twice divorced. One is happy and the other is sad. What happened for their lives to be so different when they started their journey the same? Life happened, they made choices but don't assume that it is the divorced one who is unhappy or the overweight one whom must be sad. How you judge them is how you judge yourself in your world view.
There is no right or wrong - there is only living but the way you live is the important part for you. Its not about being what others think you should be, it is about being who you want to be so that you can leave here knowing that no matter what happened, you owned it and you understand how it came to be.
I spent a long time trying to figure other people out but my breakthrough moment was when I turned my eye to figuring myself out. How could I possibly understand other people if I had no clue as to why I had behaved the way that I did. The beautiful part about working on yourself is that those around you see it. This demonstration of understanding yourself makes others less likely to interfere in your decision making because they can see that you have a grip on living your life. It can be very inspirational for those around you to witness your highs and lows and to see that you understand how each came to be, regardless as to whether you dealt with it in the best possible way.
There is value and lessons in everything that you do, you just need to see it.