"I'm just not sure," my friend said. "What do you think I should do?" I asked her how she really felt about the entire situation. What would she do if this happened? Or that happened? We talked a while, and I could tell she was processing as we talked.
At the end of our conversation I said, "I think you know what you want." She agreed. "Then," I said, "I don't think you need my approval." She said it helped to have my validation and affirmation for what she wanted to do. I totally get that. I like to run things by close friends or loved ones sometimes, too.
Thankfully, we have reached a stage of life where our decisions aren't based on what everyone else will think—or based on what others do with their lives. We get to decide based on how it seems best to us to proceed. It is so freeing. That type of decision-making still comes with responsibility to do no harm to others or ourselves. But it's so freeing to no longer worry: "But what will others think?"
Being authentic and living with integrity—it's a wonderful way to live.
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