Bruce Lee once said, “I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations and you’re not in this world to live up to mine.” I sincerely believe this is one of life’s biggest lessons that, literally, took me time to learn. From a young age, the decisions I made where made within context of responsibility to family, first, and myself, second. The older I have become, the more comfortable I have become with making decisions for me first, everyone else second because I sincerely believe that, if I am in a good space, I am better able to contribute to the important and meaningful relationships around me. Obviously, responsibility and duty come into play but it has to do with what I expect of myself, rather than what others would expect of me.
I have a friend who is leaving a job that she has been in for over 5 years and, obviously, the announcement was quite emotional. Having recently left a position I’d been in for four years, I can totally relate. Often, it is the people that you worked with that you miss the most but I have found that it is important to focus on your life’s journey and make decisions accordingly.
It is about being clear on the standard set for oneself. And, success at meeting that standard is one that is determined by self as opposed to the ones imagined by others. It is about knowing the answer to “why do you do….?”
In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.”
Have you decided?