“There comes a time when every life goes off course. In this desperate moment you must choose your direction. Will you fight to stay on the path while others tell you who you are? Or will you label yourself? Will you be honored by your choice?O r will you embrace your new path? Each morning you choose to move forward or to simply give up.” –One Tree Hill

More often than not we simply go through life just doing what we think others want us to do. Each and every day is a new opportunity to embrace the life that you want to live, the life that you think is right for you, not for others. We lose ourselves when trying to satisfy everyone else. People tell you that you need to be an athlete, all of a sudden you find yourself in the middle of a sports game. People tell you that you need to be a mathlete; suddenly you are in the state competition put on the spot for the trophy. People tell you that you need to go to college, you then find yourself moving into a tiny dorm with a new roommate. People are always judging you, telling you what you need to do with your life and making decisions for you without you even knowing it. Each day you wake up is a new opportunity to make a different choice, are you going to keep allowing people to tell you who you are and how to live your life or are you going to march to the beat of your own drum? The choice is your own each and every day.

Sometimes we think that if we do not do what we are expected to do, then others will not approve of the choices that we make. Why do we consistently let others dictate what we will do and need their approval for every move we make? When we step out of our comfort zone, that is when great things happen. Miracles happen. How do you think we travelled to the moon? Found cures for rare diseases? It wasn’t from people sitting back and just doing what other people told them they should do. The people who did these things, they stepped out of their comfort zone, they took a leap of faith, they went for it. They looked at all the people who doubted them after they succeeded and could then say I told you so. They succeeded; they were on top of the world.

Before Steve Jobs founded Apple he was fired from every company he was working for. Now look at him, he started a $2 billion company. Bill Gates was a college dropout and then started the company, Microsoft, which we all know and most of us use on a daily basis. Michael Jordan has failed over and over and is quoted saying it; he was told by numerous coaches that he was never going to be a good enough basketball player because he was never tall enough, now we all know his name. Walt Disney dropped out of school at a young age and failed at joining the army, he went bankrupt because he struggled to run a business, yet today, we all know who he is and we are forever thankful for his hard work and dedication to Disney.

Moral of the story, many people will try and tell you what to do out of fear of failure. They fear you will fail or they have failed before and don’t want to see you go down that path. Failure is not something to fear. Failure is something to embrace and learn from. Everyone’s life goes a little wacky now and then; it is your job to put your own life back together the way you want it to look. It is like a puzzle with a thousand pieces, but who will put your puzzle together? Will you let other people put your puzzle together or will you put the pieces together yourself?