Other People’s Agendas

[Eva Libre]

Inspirations

Other People’s Agendas

People will always have an idea about how you should live your life, but ultimately, we must follow our own inner guidance.

As children, our parents had dreams for us. They wanted us to do well in school and whatever was necessary to reach our highest potential. Later in life, friends may try to set us up with their idea of the perfect partner or the perfect job. Spouses may have agendas for us, too. People close to us may have ideas about how we should live our lives. These ideas usually come from love and the desire for us to be happy, but other times, they may come from a place of need — whether it is the parent who wants us to live out their dreams or the friend or spouse who wants us to play an already-defined role. Whatever the case, we can appreciate and consider those people’s input, but ultimately, we must follow our own inner guidance.

There may come a time when all the suggestions can become overbearing. We may feel that the people we love don’t approve of our judgment, which can hurt our feelings. Their suggestions can interfere with the choices we make for our lives — making us doubt ourselves. Or we may fill a void with their wishes before we’ve had a chance to decide what we want. It can affect us energetically as well. We may have to deal with feelings of resistance or the need to shut ourselves off from them. But we can take some time to rid ourselves of any unnecessary doubts and go within to become clear on what we desire for ourselves.

We can tell our loved ones how much we appreciate their thoughts and ideas, but we need to live our own lives and make our own decisions. We can explain that they need to let us learn from our own experiences rather than rob us of wonderful life lessons and the opportunity to fine-tune our own judgment. When they see that we are happy with our lives and the path we are taking to reach our goals, they can rest assured that all we need them to do is to share in our joy.

by Madisyn Taylor