"When I grow up, I want to have an amazing career and be successful. I want to keep fit and maintain a slim, healthy figure. I want to find the perfect partner and be able to experience my life with him. I want to start a family and live in a beautiful home. I want my happily ever after.’ How many times have you dreamt of fulfilling similar aspirations for your future? Have we forgotten how to appreciate the concept of living in the process of working towards our ideal future? Are we more consumed with what we want rather than what would truly make us happy in our lives?
As a young girl, I remember being occasionally asked the question: "What do you want to become when you grow up?’ And I recall fantasising about the future and looking forward to a life full of adventure, love, and happiness. However, as I grew older I started to realise that life is challenging and this realisation allowed me to broaden my perspectives. Life constantly tests our strength in achieving that which we heartily wish to attain. During times when we reach a new low, the best option is to always take a step back in order to reflect on the real reasons as to why we’re doing what we’re doing, and how we can find happiness during such puzzling situations. However, we are human and it’s improbable that we’d immediately find the right motivation to work on thinking positively. Sometimes we prefer finding comfort in forgetting our troubles rather than working on improving them. In fact, when life gets challenging it’s normal to enjoy staying alone in your bedroom and binge watch your favourite movies and TV series in order to transport yourself to an imaginary reality free from stress and worry.
If all this rings a bell then understand that you aren’t alone.
If all this rings a bell then understand that you aren’t alone. Thousands of people have experienced difficult situations in their lives whether it’s a breakup, a friendship that fizzled out, university and work stress, body shaming issues; the list is endless. We spend our whole lives wishing we could be something great, however, we fail to notice that the greatest things in life are the ones which we notice the least but ultimately cherish the most. After all, we have to remember to LIVE life.
We should always try to find the positive in the seemingly insignificant things in life because such positivity stirs up the ingredients for the most wonderful memories. In my opinion, being able to express yourself is an important aspect to living a happier life. Tell your parents that you love them. If you think a girl is pretty, tell her. Give hugs to your loved ones. Smile. Ask your friends if they’re ok. Stop complaining! If there’s something that you’ve always aspired to do, do it. Immerse yourself in anything that makes your heart beat faster and sets your motivation high. If you’re going to engage in something, do so wholeheartedly. Life is too short to limit yourself by creating your own mental setbacks. Ultimately, never let anyone put you down. You should always know your priorities and self-worth and stop worrying about what could have happened differently. Whenever life gets tough, you have to try to be mature enough to learn from challenging experiences and be able to use them to your advantage in order to become a stronger and happier person.
The future is in your hands. At the end of the day you have two options in life: you can either spend your whole life trying to fulfil those big aspirations that society has imposed on you to wish for without actually doing what you love or you can actually LIVE and find positivity in what you do no matter how challenging that could be. Funnily enough, even the most fictitious of tales can give deep insights on life. Cinderella believed that just because something is done doesn’t entirely mean that it’s what should be done, and I believe that she’s right. Cinderella never sought royalty, wealth and the love of the prince, despite being rewarded with them in the end. Nonetheless, she was able to find happiness even in the most bleak and dismal situations. Ultimately, you should work for what you believe in and support whatever brings goodness to your life.
