Ever wonder how society has raised us to think that money and things are important? The clothes we wear, how much we make, the title we have on our office door, the social status is an important part of calling yourself successful... or so that is what society says.
We grow up under the shadows of our parents or adults who have helped shape and raise us to believe that the way to happiness is to accomplish all of the above, that the dreams we had as children are too hard to accomplish and so we have to have our feet well planted on earth and be realistic to what we are really capable of.
Our wings get cut and our view of life changes, we are filled with fear of failure and we blame ourselves when we are unable to accomplish what we are supposed to be accomplishing, we feel guilt when we do what we want and try to follow our dreams, we believe we are being selfish when we are working towards that which is what we want.
The truth is that the important things in life do not cost money, the way to happiness is not the same for everyone, we are all different and we all make our own way. The truth is that we did not come here to do what our parents tell us we have to do with our lives, their role is merely to guide us and care for us until we can care for ourselves, their role is not to tell us which decision to make but to allow us to make a decision for ourselves.
It is when we follow what others want for us that we become unhappy, the voice of society is so loud that it overcomes the voice of our souls, the voice of our hearts, we stop listening to the voice that will really show us the way to true happiness and we let the world take us through the longest detour and then when we realize it we think it is too late to turn around and so we force ourselves to stay on that same road.
It is never too late to follow your dreams, it is never too late to turn around and get back on the road, it is never too late to realize that the things you thought will make you successful are mere rules of society to try and make everyone look the same, when the reality is that this universe is so diverse that it's unnatural for everything to be the same.
It took me a while to realize all of this, one person that helped me realize this was my daughter, she is only 6-years-old, and while I was working so hard to provide for her all the things I wanted to give her she said to me: mommy I wish you did not have to work so hard so you could play with me or watch a movie... She does not and hardly ever asks for anything other than my time with her and it does not matter how I spend it with her, she just wants time, everything else is not important. She is not aware of a "nice" house, or a "nice" car, or how much money we have, or the brand name clothes, those are things society's shallow nature try to tell us that is important as we grow and that are needed to be truly successful, the reality is that she already is, she is more successful than anyone else around her because she has dreams and she is not afraid to follow them... All I can hope for her is that she keeps that fearless soul of her going, that she does not let the voice of society take over and that she follows her heart, that she does not allow others to tell her what things she needs to be happy, that she is never afraid to be different because the world's differences are what makes this world such a beautiful place.
Most of all I hope she never thinks that her job is to make me proud or anyone else for that matter, I hope I can always make her understand that her only job in life is to do what makes her happy and as long as what makes her happy does not harm her or anyone else then she should always go for it. I hope that I don't ever fall into the trap of cutting her wings out of fear that she will not be able to fly high and hurt herself because it is much better to fail at something you want to do than to fail at that which you do not want.
I hope I am able to keep myself on track, that I don't let society rule what it is that will make me happy, that I can remind myself that life is not planned but we just go with it one step at the time, that the important thing is not how much you have in life but how happy you are. I hope I am able to keep myself from falling in society's trap and keep myself focused on what is truly important: the time spent chasing my dreams, the time spent with those I love and care about, the time spent dreaming because dreaming is what feeds the soul and no dream is ever too big and everyone is strong enough to break out of the mold and most of all I hope I never forget that in the end people won't remember me for what I have but the words they will then speak will be words about how I made them feel, how many times I made them smile and if I am not happy there is no way I could possibly make anyone else good and smile.
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