The other day, I was talking with one of my coworkers, asking her for advice about a relatively big decision. As I rattled off my pro-con list for each option, she stopped me mid-sentence.

"I just have one question for you," she said. "Everything that you've told me so far has involved other people and what they want. Or what others think is best for you. But what do you want? What does Sarah want?"

I sat back and stared at her quizzically for a solid twenty seconds. I hadn't realized before this moment how unfamiliar those words were to me.

What do you want?

I couldn't give her an answer. In the entirety of this decision-making process, I forgot the most important person: myself.

Once I actually started thinking about it, I realized that most of my decisions are affected by other people. Whether it's something small like choosing what I want to eat for dinner, or something a bit bigger like my major, I have always valued other people's advice and opinions above my own. A lot of the time, it's worked out fantastically. I've discovered interests, dislikes, and passions from that positive peer pressure. But I've come to rely too much on other people to make a decision. I always say jokingly that I'm the most indecisive person you'll ever meet, but it's true. When it comes down to it, I have lost an extremely important connection with myself.

I know I'm not the only one that is experiencing this. We are so often told to stop thinking about ourselves and think about other people instead. John F. Kennedy once said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country". Make no mistake, I wholeheartedly believe that that is important. However, I also believe that there is such a thing as thinking of others too much, especially when it comes at a cost to your own well-being. It's okay to put everyone else aside and do what you feel is best for yourself. Coming from a people pleaser, it can make you feel great helping someone out. But at the end of the day, each person is responsible for living their own life as they see fit, and the only person that can live your life the way it was meant to be lived is you.

So now, I'm forcing myself to become more independent in my decision-making process, and become more attune to my needs and desires. It's time to dig a little deeper and ask myself the tough question: What do you want? What, at your very core, do you need? What will make you feel most fulfilled, make you most successful, make you happiest?

In theory, this doesn't seem too difficult. But putting it into practice... therein lies the challenge. In a world where we put so much weight on other people's opinions and perceptions of us, it's hard to tell yourself that you're going to block all of that out. But as hard as it is, we've forgotten how important it is.

So let's be a little selfish for a change. Thinking about yourself will give you the opportunity to reconnect with yourself, and get you back on the path that you are meant to be on.