Ever since I was a kid, people have always had very high expectations of me. When I say people, I mean my family… particularly, my mom. Reminiscing on my childhood, I can recall her repeatedly saying that I would go on to become the most successful of all her children, because I was who she deemed to be the ‘smartest one.’ She would always brag about how I made the honor roll and how I would go off to college and end up with an amazing, high-paying career.

Yet, here I am today. Almost seven months into being a 22-year-old and I can say that I haven’t lived up to those expectations. I can also say that I’m not trying to live up to her expectations anymore; nor am I trying to live up to anyone else’s for that matter. I say that because I’m gradually learning that you can’t live your life trying to please everyone else, whether they’re family or not. As cliché as it may sound, you have to go after whatever dream it is that makes YOU happy and not let others live vicariously through your life. I mean, of course, there are times when I evaluate my life and am briefly saddened because I realize I’m not where I want to be, or where I THINK I should be at this point in my life. There are times when I know for sure that pretty much all I want to do is write and other times when I seriously begin to doubt myself and question whether writing is what I was actually born to do.

Upon snapping out of my funk, the second-guessing abruptly comes to a halt. When I really think about it, writing is all I know. It has always been easier for me to put pen to paper in an attempt to better express myself; writing is my outlet. It’s therapeutic for me. Writing makes me happy in ways that some of my family members would never care to fathom. At the end of the day, it’s not about which career is going to leave you sitting on a gold mine. It’s not about what will please your loved ones either. At the end of the day, it all boils down to what sets your soul free. If it brings you joy, then follow your heart. It’s as simple as that.

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Antionette Latrese
Twitter // FAWF posts by Antionette Latrese