Don’t spend your whole life doing what you think other people think you should do. I feel that a lot of people do this. Recently I’ve been realizing that my path didn’t go in the direction that I really wanted it to. However, I think I needed to take these detours to find out where I really want to be (and who I want to be) going forward.

So many people are crippled by comparison and social expectations. If you don’t want to do what your parents did, don’t. If you don’t want the life your parter wants, tell them that’s not what you want as early as possible. If you don’t like working for the people you do, quit. If you want to eat ice cream every day and be chubby, do it. If you want to study art instead of finance, do it. If money isn’t important to you, then living paycheck to paycheck is fine. If you don’t want to wear suits, don’t pick a job where you have to. If you don’t want to live in the country, move to the city. If you don’t want kids, stop telling your boyfriend you do. If you don’t like something, who are you helping by doing it? Certainly not yourself.

 You need to be true to yourself and decide what you want. Sometimes it’s hard to figure out just what you want, but I’m willing to bet we are all doing things that we don’t want to do to please others. Stop doing that. It’s at least a good place to start.