Do you know who you are? Like, really know who you are? Who are you when no one is around? Is your happiness and lack of boredom dependent upon the presence of others? When was the last time you did something that YOU enjoyed, without the need for outside influences? Are you one of those people who gets into a new relationship and completely loses themselves in that person to the point where your interests, wants and desires outside of that person, no longer matters? Oh dear, please don't be that person.
It's no secret that at times, life simply gets in the way, and there are times when one may lose sight of the things that once brought them joy and fulfillment, but it's extremely important to ALWAYS make time for YOU. I'm a big advocate of having your separate interests outside of your relationships, romantic as well as platonic. How can you truly evolve and grow as an individual if you're never discovering new things about yourself, never re-discovering your passions
(or actively pursuing new ones), never stepping out of your comfort zone, all while allowing your happiness to be managed by someone else?
Life is all about balance. The balancing of careers, marriages, friendships, kids, the pets, and everything else in between - it can all be a lot, and in the midst of trying to cater to everyone else's wants, some tend to lose who they are in the process. It's important for the people in your life to be a positive light; that's why they're in our lives, but you should never depend on anyone else to complete you or validate you, and your happiness should never stem solely from them. Focusing on what makes YOU happy when no one else is around, is truly the key to self-love and self-discovery.
Images are from one of my favorite movies, Eat, Pray. Love.
