I used to care a lot about what others thought of me. I used to care if I was liked by others, if I was popular, and if I was good enough for the stands of others. One thing that I was willing to give up for this was my individual happiness.
When I first started writing, I remember being so hesitant about posting to any social media. I mean, let’s face it, I talk a lot about the struggles that I have endured over the course of my life. If you are someone who focuses on being accepted by others, well then you will understand that being open and talking about your struggles isn’t something that is easy to do.
After seeking the acceptance of others, I did whatever I could do to hide any “negative” part of my life. I didn’t want to be judged for my weaknesses while I was focusing on being accepted by others. I didn’t want to be made fun of more than I already was for these weaknesses. And I definitely wasn’t ready to feel any lower about myself than I already did.
Today, I want to share with you where my current mindset is at. Not because I’m arrogant, but because I now feel free. You can judge me all you want, but I’ll never give up. I am far more proud of the person who I am today who doesn’t care about being accepted versus the person who I was and only strived to be accepted. Every single day I am working towards achieving my dreams, and I will never give up until I achieve them all.
What the purpose of life if you don’t dream?
Everybody has dreams. Some want to be professional athletes, others want to be movie stars, some may want to be real estate agents. As for me? Well, my dream is to be nothing more than an inspiration. It might sound cliche to some, but positively impacting lives is what I want to be doing with my life.
I haven’t always been able to admit that. I want to have one of the greatest blogs on the internet, I want to touch as many lives as I possibly can, and I want to inspire people to go after their dreams and to make the most out of every opportunity in life. For someone who spent twenty-some years striving to be accepted by their peers, I will be the first to tell you that IT ISN’T WORTH IT!
It isn’t worth it to wake up everyday and dress to fit in with the crowd. It isn’t worth it to cater your life to the liking of those around you. And it isn’t worth it to be spending your valuable and precious time to be doing things that you don’t care about just to be accepted by others. Every moment you focus on what others think of you is only time in your precious life of which you are giving away.
Judge me all you want
So to the kids who used to tease me for never fitting in, to the kids whose attention I used to crave, to the kids whose acceptance I would have done anything for, here I am. Judge me all you want, but know that I’ll never give up on my dreams. I know what I am worth, I know what I want to achieve in my life, and I am not going to stop until I achieve each and every goals that I set out to accomplish.
And because I haven’t told anybody other than my family what I want to do with the rest of my life, let me put it out there for the entire world to see. I want to be a blogger. I want to make a living blogging while travelling the world, and I want to inspire others while providing a positive message: one that took me twenty-five years to comprehend.
Stop limiting yourself and follow your dreams
You may be judged by others for the things that you want to accomplish in your life, but remember that you will never be judged by somebody who has achieved more than you have. Real dreamers are those who are bold and brave enough to share what it is that they want to do with their life because they don’t see it as a dream, they see it as their reality in the making. It is those individuals who will accomplish their goals and achieve greatness.
My best piece of advice for you: stop limiting yourself. Stop trading your dreams for the acceptance and approval of others and strive to achieve the goals that you want to achieve in your life. This truly is the only one that you will ever get to live, so why waste even a second more of it? Get out there and start living your life.
Michael Bonnell
5/6/2019
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