Make life your own

   A movie that I watched this evening actually got me to thinking. How do we define the value of our lives? To be honest, a lot of us live by others standards. I include myself in that category sometimes as well. We measure our worth by money, material items, who has the better paying jobs, the niceness of our home, the year\make\ model of our vehicles. And we don't just stop there. We measure our worth based on what society sees fit for us to look like as well.

    Were in all of that do we find our true worth? Is our existence on this planet only measurable by our monetary status and a  1-10 scale of "hotness"? I'm sorry, but I know my worth is more than a dollar sign and a number on a scale. A humans worth should be measured by their happiness. It's not a number on a scale that's going to make you happy. It's how you feel about yourself. It's not the amount of your check that is going to make you happy or the things you can by with it. It's the things inside your home that bring you happiness. The memories you make, the love you feel, and the joy you have brought to yourself and others. That's what matters.

    When we look back on our lives 20 years from now, what are you going to have to remember? Did you live your life to the fullest? Or were you more worried about society and what it thought and expected from you? Did you make choices that made you happy? If you weren't living for yourself then you just wasted that time. Precious time that you can't get back. You lived to work instead of working to live. 

    And sadly it's not just ourselves that we affect when we make these choices. It becomes a part of everyone around us and their story. I know too many parents that make life revolve around having the best of everything. Even if it means valuable time with their children is cut to nearly nothing. They pick up extra shifts, send their children to sitters, spend under 4 hours a day with their children. Let me ask you this... What memories of you are your children going to have when you are gone? If you can't think of 10 or more current memories without a second thought, then chances are that your children won't have a good thought at all. They will remember dumb crap like the doll house or bike you bought. Not you. 

    So I guess my whole point is... evaluate what and who you are. If you are happy with that, then great.. you may very well be one of fifteen that are living to be happy. But if you have so much as a distant thought in your brain that says you should do things a little different, then it's time to change. Stop worrying about what society thinks. It doesn't matter. Live for yourself and those that you love.