Life is full of twists and turns, loud voices, and people telling you what you “should”, “must”, or “ought” do. More often than not, those voices drown out what we know to be true and good, and we allow them to strike fear in our hearts and doubt in our minds- this inevitably holds us back from our true purpose.
With all of these voices screaming at you, how do you determine which voices win, which voices offer truth, or which voices even deserves to be heard? How can you tell what is true from what is a lie, or what is good for you from what is bad for you, or even what simply looks good on the outside and is really deceitful on the inside?
What do you do when you finally feel that you have discovered your life’s purpose only to be greeted by “what if’s”, “that’s crazy’s”, or “what you are thinking’s” from your loved ones? Do you stand strong in the face of adversity, or do you cave and creep back into the stagnant hole you had been stuck in for years and finally just got out of?
When change is finally on the horizon and you know that you need to rise to the occasion, where do you look for courage, bravery, and strength? Do you surround yourself with people who affirm you or people who speak doubt into your ear? Do you pull close people who help you logically look at pros and cons and evaluate with wisdom, or do you draw near to those who are quick to speak, slow to listen, and slow to offer true insight and understanding?
As you answer these questions in your heart, think about, truly, which voices in your life you are listening to. Be careful to surround yourself with voices of truth and wisdom, because it is true, what they say, “if you show me your friends I will show you your future.”
There are a lot of people who will tell you what you “should”, “must”, or “ought” be doing, but only you can truly decide for yourself which of those things are true for you and which of those things line up with what is right, true, good, worthy, and full of purpose. Truth be told, no one can tell you for sure what you “should”, “must”, or “ought”, do- only you can decide that. Only you have the ability to make choices in your life or change the trajectory that your life is going. Only you can know for sure what you should do, must do, or ought to do.
So, please, do not get caught up in what society screams at you, even if they do so with megaphones and harsh words. Listen to the gentle whispers inside telling you the right path to take- you and only you are responsible for your own life. No one else can live it for you, no one else can change your path- only you can do that.
So, what are you waiting for? Where are you going to go from here?
