“If today were the last day of your life, would you want to do what you are about to do today?”
This is a quote from Steve Jobs.
And I think that when you *really* step back and think about this broadly, it’s a damn good question.
Are there parts of your life that just don’t fit anymore?
Maybe they’ve served you beautifully in the past, but now… you’ve outgrown them.
Are there things, projects or even relationships you’re still involved in out of habit or convenience, rather than genuine desire and joy?
The most typical story is that you go about your life, more or less on autopilot, until something happens and everything changes.
This is especially true for women.
We’re the carriers of burdens, ours and others, from a young age.
Inevitably, someone pipes up with, “But girls naturally mature faster than boys.”
This is a myth! It simply isn’t true.
Girls are shouldered with the individual, familial and societal expectations of grown women.
We’re also taught to manage the emotional, mental and domestic expectations of everyone in our families and communities.
Our childhoods are so often and so easily co-opted into free labour.
When you’re raised to shoulder those responsibilities before you’ve fully developed and explored your identity as an individual separate from (yet still of) your family, it’s hard to question the things you do automatically.
We’re trained to take on accountability and responsibility for anything we do as well as things others do.
That’s where the whole rhetoric about girls/women needing to “watch how they dress so that they’re not inviting sexual assault” comes from, firmly placing the blame (and responsibility) for other’s wrongdoing on the victim rather than the perpetrator.
Modern society is still built for men, designed to favour them.
But we can all unlearn the patriarchal rhetoric that we’ve been raised on and all go on to live happier, more fulfilling lives.
So, now’s a good time to reflect on your daily choices so far.
Sift through the micro habits that lead to bigger choices and really ask if you’re doing it because you want to or because you’re expected to.
Because your time on Earth is limited.
And there’s no point in wasting it doing things you really don’t want to do anymore.
Because regardless of whether you’re rich or poor, you can be a rebel and break the shackles of society’s oppressive ideology.
#SmashThePatriarchy
JOURNALING PROMPTS:
If today was your last day alive, would you be satisfied with it?
Would you still do all the things you’re planning to? Or would you play hooky and completely change your plans?
Who would you spend it with and what would you do instead?
What things do you do simply out of habit? Out of expectation? Out of anything other than true personal desire to do it?
