Stop thinking so much about other people.

I know it sounds harsh to state it so blatantly, but it’s true. Stop factoring in what every single person that you know will think of the things that you are doing or you aren’t doing; stop factoring in their opinions when taking your own happiness into account. It is your happiness—yours and yours alone. Strive for it, for yourself. There is no one who should try to take the ability to go after what you want from you and still be considered a person of worth to you. Be selfish.

While I know a lot of people have told you not to be, but it’s okay if you are. It is okay to be selfish and to do things for you that only benefit you sometimes—sometimes you have to be the person who looks out for yourself because there might not always be someone else willing to do it. Sometimes you have to be your own person, and you have to support yourself, and you have to be your own best friend. I’m writing this to let you know that you can’t always count on other people, and it is okay to only trust yourself.

Please don’t think that I’m trying to tell you that you can’t trust anyone else, because I’m not. But I do want you to know that sometimes, as hard as it may be to realize and acknowledge, the only person who truly knows what you need is yourself. Not everyone is going to understand what goes through your head, not everyone will understand the situations that you have to deal with, but you will. You will always know, somewhere inside of you, not merely what you deserve, but also what you are capable of handling—and you should know that as long as you hold onto those beliefs, even if you hide them away inside of yourself, you are going to make it.

Wake up tomorrow and know that while the world is your oyster and you are its pearl, that it does not make you delicate. While it may seem that this world traps you in hopes of keeping you safe, eventually you will be found and inevitably plucked from the surroundings that you know so well.

Being lost is certain and unavoidable.

Though you should know, what is lost will almost always be found, in some way or other. Maybe not by who lost it, maybe not by anyone in similar situations or surroundings, but it will be found. You will be found.

It doesn’t matter whether your selfish moments seem inopportune, or if other people disagree with your life and the choices you make. Repeat after me: it doesn’t matter. No one else is going to wake up and live your life, so they don’t make your choices. Regardless of their input, the choice always has been and always will be yours to make—exist in the space that you need.

Live.