As if it isn’t stressful enough dealing with the critical voices we hear in our own minds all the time, we also find we have to deal with the criticism and opinions of others on almost a daily basis.
While we can sometimes benefit from the advice of others, we can also make the mistake of letting their opinions carry far too much weight in the decisions we make and how we decide to live our lives.
It is necessary to take a step back once in awhile and ask ourselves the reasons behind so much of what we do.
For instance:
Why do you have the job or career that you have? Is it something you always wanted to do? Or is it a job or career that others such as your parents, spouse or friends think is the right job for you?
I have a friend who always wanted to be a writer. After she graduated high school she intended to look for a job in the publishing industry. Her parents however had a different idea. They didn’t think the writing field was solid enough. Jobs were hard to come by and easy to lose. Newspapers and magazines paid very little. Getting a book published was a one in a million shot. (This was all before the internet by the way.)
They convinced her that taking a job as a writer would be irresponsible on her part and that she should work as an administrative assistant on Wall Street instead. Plenty of positions available, good solid income, security. After enough pressure she caved and took their advice and became an administrative assistant for over 15 years. And hated every minute of it. The ironic part was when years later she decided to give her writing career another shot, it was now her spouse who didn’t want her to give up the steady income she was making as an assistant.
Even though they all knew she was miserable doing what she was doing, they wouldn’t or couldn’t, look past their own opinions of how she should live her life.
Luckily she finally came to the realization that this was in fact, her life, and not theirs. She started writing and submitting pieces in her spare time and eventually started earning enough to make it her full time job. She is now very successful and happy! But it was only when she realized that she had been sacrificing her desires because of the opinion of others that she was able to make the move.
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