Authentic
August 31st, 2010 by admin | Posted in Uncategorized |I got an email from a friend the other day. The gist of it was that I was being a bad friend to some people that are/were close to me, and that I should pull my head out of my butt and get in better touch with them.
This friend was well intentioned, and I can understand his frustration. I’ve had 10,000,000 things going on in my life and in my mind, and I’ll admit that this group of friends wasn’t near the top of the list. His laundry list of my faults were long and detailed, but they had a different effect than he intended.
It made me realize that I’ve been living a “have-to” life. Recently, everyone wants something out of me, and I’ve been doing a lot of things that drive me crazy because I felt like I had to. I’m tired of being ordered around. Here’s my list of things I don’t “Have-to” do anymore.
1. I don’t have to go out if I don’t want to. It’s my right to stay in and read, write, or otherwise indulge my creative side.
2. I don’t have to work at a job that makes me cringe at the thought of going to work. I’ve been telling myself to be grateful that I had work, but even in temping, there are other opportunities than the ones you hate. I’m not saying I’ll only take dream job opportunities, but I’m going to have a minimum acceptable standard from now on.
3. I don’t have to be treated as backup. By anyone for any reason.
4. I don’t owe everyone who’s nice to me.
5. I don’t have to put the needs of everyone around me before my own all of the time. They usually don’t appreciate it, anyway, so that can’t be the reason I do it. Life is too short to worry about everyone else. I’ll help when I can, say a prayer for them in times that i can’t, and that will be enough. No more guilt.
6. Pride comes from standards.
7. Fear really is the mind killer.
8. Sometimes you have to upset people, even people you love for your own happiness.