How Are You Living??

Ok so I was having an interesting conversation with my girl just now discussing the impact other people's thoughts and opinions have on how we live. I had to ask myself...do I care what other people think about me or do I always do what makes me happy and ignore the 'nay sayers'?? The answer on my part is...well sometimes...but only to a healthy degree. I mean I definitely care whether others think of me as a good person, a great friend, someone they value, but in the grand scheme of things in terms of how I choose to live my life, I could give a damn what other may have to say. Its suffices to say that I care what people think...just not necessarily enough for that that have any bearing on the decisions I make for myself. Im someone who rarely seeks advice. I may confide in a friend about a situation but the words, "Tell me what I should do girl" youll never hear me utter.

Now most people, women more specifically dont subscribe to this line of thinking. I think that too many women either dont trust themselves enough or are too fearful to live their lives the way that they want. They care TOO much about what other people think to make any decision without the constant worry that someone else is going to disapprove and judge them accordingly. Rather than just doing what they think is right for them, they go against their gut and do what they think will gain the approval of, or ward off the side-eyes and 'tisk-tisk' finger pointing of their peers. If you ask me that mess is for the birds. Making decisions in your life based on what someone else may or may not have to say about it is not only ridiculous, its poor judgment all the way around. Doing so usually causes you to live a life that is so 'safe' it pretty much bores you to tears for one, and leads to bitterness and shoulda-woulda-couldas for two.

Now dont get me wrong a healty sense of conscience and self preservation is imperative. Dont take what Im saying to mean, "hey girl, go out into the world and make bunch of bad decisions, ruin your credit and sleep with all the wrong men" all under the guise of 'living carefree' and not taking into account the importance of excercising good judgement. The truth of the matter is, if you live your life in a way that only attracts negative attention its probably a good indication that maybe your life is basically out of control. In which case you may need to check yourself. I always say that theres a fine line between being hated on and just being plain old hated; but of course that line is relative to every woman's personal life experiences.

The moral of the story boys and girls is this: Like the song says, 'Live Your Life' ...just be sure that its one you can be proud of...and not one you'll later regret.

Here's to carpe diem peeps!!

The diva :o)