I don't know about you, but lately I've been struggling with wondering if I've made the right decisions. I am probably one of the most indecisive people you will ever meet, I always ask those closest to me for advice before I make a major decision. But I've come to realize that decision making comes from following your heart and gut, and no one else can do that for you.
When faced with making a decision there are a bevy of thoughts swirling through my mind. What if I make the wrong one? Will I make someone mad/upset? How do I know what I want? These are just some of the questions that run through my head and send me into an immediate panic. Ever since I can remember I've always made my choices based on what other people wanted me to do. I got good grades in school because my parents told me to, I made choices to benefit my sports teams and coaches, and I put my friends first. But through all of this I realized that I wasn't happy. I wasn't happy because I was allowing people to walk all over me and make decisions for me whether I liked it or not. I decided to put the madness to an end, because at the end of the day I am the one living with the decisions I make, not anybody else.
If you are confused or torn between which choice to make, you really just have to follow your heart and go with your gut. Cliche, I know, but it's true. When deciding where I wanted to go to college, my indecisive self was having some major difficulties, each time I tried to make a choice it would end in tears. One day I was talking to a friend and I said "just tell me where I should go to college, please, I can't do it." And he said, "Okay, on the count of three I'm going to tell you where you're going and that's it." I agreed without any hesitation (which now makes me cringe at how moldable I was). He then goes, "when I said I was going to name the college, which one did you want it to be?" My mind was blown, and I just sat there with my mouth hanging open. He was a genius, he forced out that gut instinct that I was trying to ignore. What I'm trying to say is, deep down, sometimes very deep down, you know what you want but might now want to make that decision for a lot of reasons. Maybe you're scared of being wrong, or you're scared of how it will impact others. But at the end of the day when making any decision in your life, make the one that makes YOU happy. Stop being a people pleaser(I know I was one!) and learn to please yourself!
Granted, sometimes in life you have to make sacrifices and there will be exceptions.But for the most part, listen to your heart because it always knows what you want, whether you're ready to admit it or not. I've been playing around with this idea, and it's been really hard for me. I'm a born people pleaser and recently I've had to make decisions for my own happiness and wellbeing that I know others do not approve of. My extended family is going to Italy this summer and I made the choice not to go with them. Why? Not because I'm a spoiled brat who doesn't want an amazing opportunity, but because for my lifestyle right now and my mental health, it just isn't the right move. I've had the great fortune of vacationing in Italy two times before, one being last summer, and I had to go with my gut which was saying the timing on this trip just isn't right for me. My family urged and yelled and tried to force me into a decision I knew would only hurt me, so I mustered up the strength to make the choice I thought would make me happy for once. And it feels really good.
With any decision you make, there will be "what if's" and maybe a bit of regret. But if you truly follow your heart then everything will work out. Stop letting other people dictate the choices in your life, take control of your fate and own it one hundred percent.
Choose happiness, choose yourself. You decide how you want to live your life, the only person it has to please is you.
How do you find yourself making decisions in your life?
Love Always,
Olivia Jane
When faced with making a decision there are a bevy of thoughts swirling through my mind. What if I make the wrong one? Will I make someone mad/upset? How do I know what I want? These are just some of the questions that run through my head and send me into an immediate panic. Ever since I can remember I've always made my choices based on what other people wanted me to do. I got good grades in school because my parents told me to, I made choices to benefit my sports teams and coaches, and I put my friends first. But through all of this I realized that I wasn't happy. I wasn't happy because I was allowing people to walk all over me and make decisions for me whether I liked it or not. I decided to put the madness to an end, because at the end of the day I am the one living with the decisions I make, not anybody else.
If you are confused or torn between which choice to make, you really just have to follow your heart and go with your gut. Cliche, I know, but it's true. When deciding where I wanted to go to college, my indecisive self was having some major difficulties, each time I tried to make a choice it would end in tears. One day I was talking to a friend and I said "just tell me where I should go to college, please, I can't do it." And he said, "Okay, on the count of three I'm going to tell you where you're going and that's it." I agreed without any hesitation (which now makes me cringe at how moldable I was). He then goes, "when I said I was going to name the college, which one did you want it to be?" My mind was blown, and I just sat there with my mouth hanging open. He was a genius, he forced out that gut instinct that I was trying to ignore. What I'm trying to say is, deep down, sometimes very deep down, you know what you want but might now want to make that decision for a lot of reasons. Maybe you're scared of being wrong, or you're scared of how it will impact others. But at the end of the day when making any decision in your life, make the one that makes YOU happy. Stop being a people pleaser(I know I was one!) and learn to please yourself!
Granted, sometimes in life you have to make sacrifices and there will be exceptions.But for the most part, listen to your heart because it always knows what you want, whether you're ready to admit it or not. I've been playing around with this idea, and it's been really hard for me. I'm a born people pleaser and recently I've had to make decisions for my own happiness and wellbeing that I know others do not approve of. My extended family is going to Italy this summer and I made the choice not to go with them. Why? Not because I'm a spoiled brat who doesn't want an amazing opportunity, but because for my lifestyle right now and my mental health, it just isn't the right move. I've had the great fortune of vacationing in Italy two times before, one being last summer, and I had to go with my gut which was saying the timing on this trip just isn't right for me. My family urged and yelled and tried to force me into a decision I knew would only hurt me, so I mustered up the strength to make the choice I thought would make me happy for once. And it feels really good.
With any decision you make, there will be "what if's" and maybe a bit of regret. But if you truly follow your heart then everything will work out. Stop letting other people dictate the choices in your life, take control of your fate and own it one hundred percent.
Choose happiness, choose yourself. You decide how you want to live your life, the only person it has to please is you.
How do you find yourself making decisions in your life?
Love Always,
Olivia Jane
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