I asked my teenage daughter what she thought of my outfit and her answer was, “You be you.”

“So, you don’t like it?” I asked her.

“I didn’t say that,” she replied, “All that matters is if you like it.”

I paused for a moment, looked at her and smiled. How did she get to be so smart?

She was right. Not just about my outfit, which by the way I did absolutely adore, but about EVERYTHING. That one statement, “You be you,” makes so much sense. About our lives. About our dreams. About how we spend our time.

It’s important to just be yourself. Whatever that means.

It’s easy to get caught up in what other people are doing and assume we should make the same choices. The majority rules, right? If most people are living a certain way, it must be the correct way to live. Here’s the important part: just because it’s the right way for them to live doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the the right way for you.

You have to figure that out for yourself.

It’s easy to conform to what everyone around you is doing. When we do this, we aren’t living authentically. We’re ignoring the little voice inside of our head that tries to guide us toward living our best life. We shut it down because we’re afraid other people won’t like our choices. We worry about being judged. We resist following our own path.

I get it, it’s safe and risk free. It’s easy to follow the crowd and do what’s expected of us, to give the people what they want. It’s harder to follow your own path, especially if it’s a little detour off the main road.

What happens when you don’t want what everyone else wants? What do you do?

You find the courage inside yourself to follow your heart.

You be you.

Whatever that means.

Be yourself. Live honestly. Embrace your passions and talents, your quirky taste, your individual qualities. You’ll be happier. Much happier. It’s takes a lot of energy to try to please other people.

Live your life on your terms. Focus more on what you want instead on what you think other people want from you. Live fully and intentionally, following your dreams, finding your passions, being yourself.

Consider this a friendly reminder that one day you’ll be at the end of your life. Hopefully, you will have a long and meaningful life. But, one day you’ll reflect on your time here on earth. Do you want to look back and realize you spent your life doing what was expected of you instead of what you wanted to do? Wouldn’t it be nice if what was expected was exactly what you wanted to do? How simple things would be. Don’t fret if that isn’t the case. Life isn’t always clean and easy, and it’s OK.

Don’t wait until you get to the end of your life to think about these things.

Think about them now.

Make sure you’re living the life you want to live. If you aren’t, figure out what you can do to help yourself create the life you want. Whatever that means. There isn’t a right or wrong answer. There’s just your answer.

You be you.

Find meaning each day,

Dara

If you enjoyed this post, check out this Huffington Post contribution, In Her Words: How My Cancer Diagnosis Affected My Teen.