Who Gives You Permission?
You need nobody’s permission to walk your own path in life.
But you will receive an awful lot of advice, and help both useful and not from people.
When you decide to walk your own path, if, like mine, it is in any way unconventional, people will question it. When enough people question what you have chosen, inevitably YOU will begin to question it, too.
We all have people in our lives who feel they have carte blanche in regards to advising and giving permission for us to live our lives a certain way. Some are at a completely surreal level, so remote and removed from our lives that, truly, they have only as much power as we give to them.
A perfect example, and I mean this with no offense or disrespect, is God. It does not matter if you view God from a religious standpoint of Judaism, Christianity, Islam or any other mono-theistic practice – some will argue you need his/her/its permission to do pretty much anything you might choose. Without God’s blessing, some might argue, you have nothing. Don’t even get me started on how some religious leaders will use some form of permission from God to oppress, be intolerant, deny science, or whatever meets their personal agenda.
This leads to the next surreal level, still remote and removed, where permission might be passed down or not. Leaders in government, religion, and business love to tell us what we can and cannot do. Sometimes they use the law to do this; other times they use tradition or obscure rules. Many workplaces have specific rules about what we can and cannot wear, some of which is logical while some it just arbitrary and controlling. For some, to feel empowered, they do all they can to disempower all others.
You don’t need to seek anyone’s permission.
The plain and simple truth is that when you are choosing your own path, you don’t need to seek anyone else’s permission to do so. This is YOUR life, and nobody but you can live it.
Now we come to the people who are not-so-far removed. Friends and loved ones. The people who are directly a part of your life often feel they have every right to opine about your choices.
If what you are choosing is in any way unusual, people may feel the need to remark about it. Unusual, by the way, is a loaded term. For some it is about anything we choose that is well outside the norm, such as a career choice requiring some major life changes or a big move or doing something unlike anything you have done before. For some, it’s as simple as not within their worldview perspective.
Everybody has a different view about how life works, yet we readily ignore this fact. Since we are constantly inundated in our society with black or white, good or bad, either/or, up or down, Republican or Democrat, and nearly any other extreme you can think of – we find ourselves set in competition against one another. Realistically, of course, the majority fall somewhere in the middle between any two extremes.
In many ways, because of this, people feel they have a duty to keep us in the expected path. Society says you go to school, get a degree, get a job. From there you get married, have kids, send them to school, then retire to a warmer clime. Deviation from that path is deviant, and suspect, and you have permission to warn people when they stray.
Well-meaning permission changes nothing.
The thing is, because we all make our own choices in life, the only person we have to get permission from is ourselves.
Please keep in mind, I am not advocating for breaking any laws, outright anarchy, or blowing-off loved ones. What I am saying is that you, and you alone, know what will make you happy in this life. That being said, it’s entirely up to you to choose what will be best for you.
It can be very useful to get advice and consult with friends and loved ones. It certainly is helpful when you have people to support you when you strive to take control over your own destiny.
I believe, to some degree, the need for permission comes from our childhood. As children we have to get permission from our parents to do something different, to borrow the car, to stay out past curfew and such. This gets so ingrained in us that we still feel an inherent need to seek permission when we take on something new and/or different.
Your path belongs to you, and you alone. You may feel that you should get somebody’s permission to do whatever it is you are doing, but in truth, you don’t. The only person who needs to approve of you and your life is you.
We are social creatures. Even the most introverted still seek validation and comfort from without from time to time. When our choices go outside of comfort zones, ours or those of others, it can be scary. It can be pretty daunting, too. Know that you are not alone, and you don’t need to get approved by anyone else.
Permit yourself to be all you want to be.
Our time on this planet is finite. I want to experience it as fully as possible. In order to do that, I am consciously creating my reality by making choices I intend to allow me to manifest a great life. Even when I am faced with naysayers and well-meaning negativity, I know what I want to manifest. I give myself permission to pursue my passion and strive to live my dream.
This, in turn, will not have a negative impact on anyone else. The Universe is abundant, and my achieving goals will not deny anyone else the chance to do so, too. There is plenty of what we want, since we all want different things. We do not need approval or permission from anyone outside of ourselves.
Do you feel a need to get permission to walk the paths of your choosing?
This is the two-hundred ninety-ninth entry in my series. These weekly posts are ideas for and my personal experiences with walking along the path of life. I share this journey as part of my desire to make a difference in this world along the way.
Thank you for joining me. Feel free to re-blog and share.
The first year of Pathwalking, including some expanded ideas, is available here.
If you enjoy Pathwalking, you may also want to read my Five Easy Steps to Change the World for the Better.
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