Your life is just that, your life. Yet, how many people in the world today are living their own life? How many people in the world are following a life path for which the guidelines were created by others? Many people in all countries live lives that were patterned by someone else’s concept on how life should be. Everyone has a certain number of years to be on this wonderful planet. Why not use your years to follow a life path of your own creation?
I want you to think. Think about how your life is going. Is your life going the way you wanted it to go? Are you living the way you want and enjoying the life path you are on? If you have answered no to either of the previous questions then, you may want to think about the following question: Whose concept of living are you following and why?
Societies often create guidelines that lead to or create acceptable living conditions. In many cases these guidelines are accommodating and can lead to a productive life. Yet, who is this life productive for? Is it for the individual, or is it a life designed to keep society going in a certain direction? If this is the case has anyone really chosen their own path, or are they simply doing what society dictates to preserve itself? Whose concept of living fits another person? In all truth, no one’s. This is why you have to evaluate your life and figure out whose concept you are following. No matter how long you have been following others’ dictates, it is never too late to find your path.
First off, you have to be confident in accepting the fact that you have been following a life path that is not yours. Once you do this you can begin to change the way you think. Changing your thought will change your actions and your life circumstances. Are you really happy living in the situation you are in? Are you simply making do because everyone else seems to be in a similar situation? Why do you do the things you do? Where did you get the morals or lack of morals from? Have you been steered into a life path that does not bring you joy, but false happiness? Are you settling into a life pattern because everyone you know, and supposedly love, are in similar situations? Be honest and shame the devil. Misery loves company. Unconscious acceptance of misery in order to be a part of a society or like others is an epidemic no one talks about.
Family is one of the biggest influences on choosing a life path. Very often a person may be steered into a life path chosen by a parent. It is rare to see a person step out of the role parents have chosen for them. Parents often stunt their children’s growth trying to protect them from the evils that they committed or overcame. I do not mean moving to a better area so the child doesn’t have to risk being robbed on a daily basis. I’m talking about parents who did certain things in the past and are scared their children will do what they did. These parents influence their children into life paths they want them in, not what the child may want. Is there any wonder that drug and psychological counseling numbers are up among teens in the USA?
Look at your life path. Be honest and ask yourself, is this the path I chose, or one I was steered into? Have you been browbeaten by family into a life you do not truly enjoy? Remember, it is never too late to follow Robert Frost and take the road less traveled.
Frank James IV © 2023
beingfrankwithfrank@gmail.com
The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the writer and not of the Milwaukee Times Weekly Newspaper or HT Group, LLC, its staff or management. “Being Frank” is a bi-weekly column exclusive to the Milwaukee Times Weekly Newspaper.
