Society has shaped most people to believe that it is necessary and required to follow a certain path of life: after graduating high school, go straight to a four-year college/university, graduate, continue to graduate/masters schooling, find a job, get married, have children, and so on.

This has been engraved into our minds so that people tend to believe that there is no other choice on what to do with their lives, except for these already-laid-out-for-us steps.

I just want to shout this from every mountaintop on the globe: EVERY HUMAN IS DIFFERENT. This being said, everyone has their own path in life and not everyone has to follow these certain steps.

Those who decide to take a different path in life are often put down for it, but why? Everyone is so different that there is a uniquely designed path destined in their own life, and that should have nothing to do with the overall, collective, societal normal path of life.

Taking a year off from school after graduation, not graduating college, not going to school at all, not getting married, not having children, traveling instead of working a 9-5 job, are all examples of a nontraditional path.

These individuals that choose these ways are not just “taking the easy way,” “taking a year off,” or “ruining their chances of success.” These people still work hard for everything that they earn or do. These individuals don’t just sit around and do nothing with their lives, they choose these ways in order to find themselves in a different way.

Any way of life that you choose to live is your own unique story to tell. So whatever you do, do it with all your heart and put good in to get good out. Never put someone down for living differently than you; focus on creating the best version of who you are and what you’ll become.