The choices we make in life can sometimes feel like a balancing act between what we wish to do and what others expect us to do.
When these wishes and expectations are in alignment, there’s no issue.
But when we find ourselves pulling away from who we are in favor of becoming the image other people have for us, the tension and eventual regret can be enormous.
In a 2012 article titled “Top five regrets of the dying”, a palliative care nurse revealed that her patients’ number one regret was not living a life true to themselves instead of the life others expected of them.
The idea of living a life true to yourself is a beautiful and worthy pursuit, but if the article is any indication, it’s not always a cakewalk.
This begs the question: what kind of choices would you have to make to be able to look back knowing that you presented yourself to the world, instead of a strange you barely knew?
What conventional advice would you have to reject?
What comfort zones would you have to part ways from?
What risks would you have to take?