We each have one life to live, and we’re not getting any younger. Throughout our lives we’re constantly making sure that we’re making others happy. That we’re not doing something that would negatively affect someone else. That we’re always being polite and caring towards others. That we’re fitting in and not causing people to think twice about our intentions. We’re living our lives for everyone else, but is that truly what’s making US happy?

We’ve all heard thousands of times that we should live life without any regrets. No one wants to look back on their lives and wonder what would have happened if we weren’t too scared to take that risk and do something we really wanted to do. A lot of us allow others to hold us back because we’re focusing too much on what they’ll think of us. We’re nervous to let our true personalities shine and invest ourselves in the things we really care about because we wonder how it’ll make us look. The thing is though, if we’re allowing others thoughts and opinions to dictate our actions, we’re going to look back on an entire lifetime of regret.

This is why you should do whatever it is you truly want to do, at any point in your life, and not think twice about what it’ll make other people think about you. If you want to pursue a certain major or career but someone doesn’t see the practicality in it, do it anyway. If you want to dye your hair teal, hot pink, or bright purple but your boyfriend tells you not to, do it anyway. If you want to go get a tattoo because you like it, and your friend says it’s a stupid design, do it anyway. The moral of the story is if you want to do something, then do it, and don’t dwell on what someone else may think about it because this is YOUR life, not theirs. Who cares if someone doesn’t like your hair color, it’s YOURS, not THEIRS. Who cares if someone doesn’t like your tattoo? It’s YOUR body not THEIRS.

You should be surrounding yourself with people who support you and want to see you happy, not someone who tries to dictate your life and judge you based on certain decisions you’ll make. And that is exactly why you have to stop caring about their opinion and what would make THEM happy.

There may come a point in your life where you realize certain people shouldn’t be in your life, whether it’s because they’re constantly nagging you about decisions you’re making, or they’re just bad energy to be around and they no longer are adding any positivity to your life. You may have to cut some people out in order to turn your life around for the better, and that’s completely okay. We’re all growing and changing every single day of our lives, and our minds are constantly expanding. People grow and realize new things and sometimes you’ll grow apart from them, and that is absolutely okay.

Just promise yourself that the next time someone tells you you can’t sing or that they think your shirt is ugly or that your favorite TV show is stupid, that you politely acknowledge their comment and then pretend like you never even heard it. The only person’s opinion that matters is your own, and you need to do the things in life that will make YOU happy, not everyone else.