Don't Sweat It

"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody." -- Bill Cosby

You can't live up to everyone's expectations. Not only is it illogical, it is stressful. You will never reach your goal, so you'll end up bitter. For so long, I tried to put the weight of the world on my shoulders. When something was wrong, I tried to fix it. When someone wasn't happy, I felt like it was on me to make them smile. I gave all that I had just to make sure that everyone else was happy. And you know what? They still weren't happy because, inevitably, something else ended up going wrong and everything I did was an after thought as they needed more assistance. You will drive yourself to drink or cry or hurt yourself or just be too drained to even figure out your own happiness. That isn't healthy at all.

Instead of trying to please everyone else happy, why not do what you love? Why not do for yourself? That is not saying be selfish, but just that you should be cognizant of what is in your power and what is not. If someone has a chronic financial problem, why do you think that tossing them one of your paychecks is going to help? All they are going to do is mismanage that and come back to you in a month or two asking for more money. If one of your friends keeps crying over the abusive guys she keeps dating, it's not on you to confront every one of them every time just so that you get your backside beaten into the ground. Then both of you are walking around w/ freshly blackened eyes every month or two. If you are your parents' "golden child," you can't always carry the weight that you are supposed to share with your siblings. You shouldn't feel like your success has to equate your expected success level as well as theirs or that you have to be the only one to show them that you care. We are not superheroes. We cannot save the entire world. What we can do is try to help one deed at a time. Give what you can when you can. Sometimes it will be more than usual, sometimes less. But don't let yourself be stressed by things that are out of your control and that don't ultimately affect you. Because then you'll just be adding one more sad person to the population of the world. Know your limits, push them, but live within them.

Litera scripta manet. - Unknown