Throughout my journey, I have realized something strange that has been happening within the community. People look down, lives seem to be cut down dramatically over the last few weeks, and the economy seems to be at a standstill. I’ve been listening to some people on the state of their mind and they always replied that life is hard and it’s constantly changing. There seems to be no self-security between families and the personal obligations that people face on a daily basis.

The reason why people are suffering today is because of the outside influence. Sometimes it’s the media that displays news that might be offensive and distasteful, or the many changes in your personal life that causes you to adjust your goals. With Christmas coming up, we all have our new year’s resolution, but are unsure as to whether or not we will stick with them. We place our faith in saying what we want to do, because it makes us feel better about the current problems that we face.

The problem that we face as citizens of this historical country is that we forgot that we are strong as a nation, and we pride ourselves on success; yet we tend to forget that and allow others to persuade us otherwise. Take it from me, I have been let down plenty of times from what others say about life. In life, people tend to judge you based not on your success, but on your failures mixed in with the environment that you may be in, or the situation that you are faced with. Because of that, you tend to develop what I like to call a “realistic” point of view, which is based off on your situation, and your reaction to it. This leads to us doubting our own ambitions and goals that we set for ourselves, forcing us to revert to other’s predictions and visions on your life.

The only way to remove you from those problems is to assess yourself and your relationship with certain people. In this world, people can either help or hurt you. However, it is up to you to make the final decision in any conflict that you face. One example that you can take from this is my college decision. Although many people had their own opinion on what college I should attend, at the end of the day it was solely up to me to make my choice as to what college I should attend. Some wanted me to attend St. Johns and play as a walk-on on the basketball or tennis team. Some wanted me to get started early on my law career by jumping into a supportive college in Roger Williams University. Even though all of the choices were good, at the end of the day I choose to make a decision that would best fit me, regardless of what others thought about my choice.

Understand that you must live your life, and that the blueprint that others have might not be applicable to you. You must learn to follow your own steps and that only works if you believe in yourself. When you make it in life, it is not because you have a mountain of wealth. It is because you believed in yourself and pushed to make your own decisions and learn from your mistakes.

And that my friend is the true meaning of independence and security.