Every day you’re faced with a series of choices and decisions that you need to make. Some are minor about what you should eat for the day, and some feel like a weight on your shoulders. Sometimes the choices you make can benefit you and sometimes they can benefit someone else. These are the choices that I have always found the most difficult.
As someone who needs to analyze every situation and its possible outcomes, I can tell you right now that these big scary choices are not as bad as they ever seem. A lot of the times, I’m faced with a choice of whether I want to do something for myself or for someone else. Now, this may sound a bit selfish and contradictory to what people would tell you growing up… but when you’re faced with these decisions and you don’t know what to do, always choose you. You are allowed to choose and prioritize yourself. I promise you.
These decisions are usually difficult because you know the other choice that benefits someone else isn’t going to make you happy. I’m not saying that you are supposed to not care about other people. I’m saying that when it comes to your own happiness—that should be your priority. For example, I had a group of friends that I had been friends with for a while now. While I didn’t necessarily have any bad blood with them, I just wasn’t really satisfied with our friendships anymore. We didn’t really seem to have a lot in common anymore, and I just didn’t feel like I was my best self when I was around them. Now, I’m really not someone that likes to cut people off—I pretty much can’t do that without feeling awful about it. However, the more I hung out with these people, the more I realized how little I was really getting out of it. So, after talking to some of my other friends that I genuinely trust, I realized that I needed to choose me. I didn’t owe anyone anything and I couldn’t let my fear of upsetting others stop me. I needed to set boundaries that would make me happier.
Life is short. There is only so many hours in a day and only so much you can do. Do not waste it living for the sake of others. Make choices in your life that make you happy. You owe that to yourself.