This is not a phrase we are typically encouraged with. In fact, we hear the opposite and are being pulled into people pleasing. But in making the best choices, you have to put yourself first. Self-love is an investment, meant for making choices and finding meaning in those choices. We often decide to push our dreams aside…we decide to not live for ourselves. We live for the wrong things. Money becomes the oppressor. Success becomes the oppressor. Approval becomes the oppressor.
Do You.
It’s simple yet complex in itself as a statement. We think we are ready to take on the world, but then we find the world wants to own us. “You don’t own me” are the words we should be shouting back. But instead, we bend. And each time we bend, we think we are doing it right when we should be thinking “Do YOU.”
Underestimating yourself is the place where you find yourself once you decide to live for the world’s ways and not for your inner wisdom. You make each decision with the wrong factors in mind and find yourself in a job, in a relationship or in a situation that does not reflect your personal value.
Wisdom is a gift. We are able to recognize when something is universally true, such as with wisdom. We have a built-in system for recognizing bullshit but somehow we turn it off or tune it out when we think the reward of living for the world outweighs living for wisdom.
Open your eyes. Right now is all we have. If they jump, will you jump? If it rains, will you turn into a puddle? Can you ever relive any moment or do we run once the results set in? I say we must face the moment and the fears that come with living for oneself. It is the hardest thing one can do.
When one leaves that job for the dream, ends a relationship for better standards deserved, starts over because one can, one fulfills something called DESTINY. Doing You will create hardship at first as does every twist or turn. But in the long run, it is more painful to stay in the same place. You’ve got to keep moving.
So move forward in the direction of your dreams. Tell that person goodbye who hurt you, ask for that promotion or raise, start that company you dreamed of in college or write that book that tells your story. Whatever form it finds you, your dreams are unique and reflect you. By rejecting yourself, you’re rejecting those dreams and that destiny.
You can’t always help pain or failure. But you can pick your attitude. You can choose integrity first. You can decide to act in your own best interests. You can decide to treat others as you would like to be treated. You can get rid of the falsities in your life by focusing on what’s real. You can put yourself first and live an adventure that you would have otherwise missed.
When you “Do You” you tell the universe you want what it has to give you. You want the rewards. You want the conviction. You want the dreams, you want to lose the day job, you want to find resilience after loss. You are determined to never give up and life will reflect that with its rewards.
The greatest part is that you can start today, any day, to live for you. As if it were your last day. And you will see that you have handled all your misfortunes wrong. You should make lemonade from those lemons. You should make opportunities from those obstacles. And you should choose yourself EVERY time you make a choice. When you do, you’ll live and feel better for it.
What will it take to start?
Do You. Every day, in every way. You will see your health and happiness transform. You will see your talents and blessing grow. You will live in expectancy of good to come and finally receive it. You will find assertion in areas of your life where you were being too submissive and letting others rule your life. For once, you have the choice; you are the dreamer. You are the doer. Do You.
Good luck.
Too often we allow everyday tasks to overwhelm our passions, phagocating all our time and our energies. And then we are living a life of duty and responsibility that leaves little space and what makes us really beat the heart. We must instead find the courage to reap our dreams, remembering what we liked to do as children, pulling out all our desires from the drawers where they mold, leaving the mind and the heart free to express themselves without limits. And, above all, avoiding the barricades behind the excuse of “I’m too old”, “it’s too late,” “I do not have enough time,” “I do not have enough money.” It’s never too late to realize our dreams. Maybe we can adapt them to age, physical condition, social and family situation. But if we do it, we will surely find the way to fill our lives with things we really love to do, the ambitious goals we want to achieve and the results we want to achieve. And so we will color our life making it extraordinary.