Reflect: Living a Life True to Yourself

I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

Social rules, gender roles, cultural norms: they all play a role in guiding behaviors and decisions. These forces might be subtle or overt, but none of us are completely immune from feeling their impact. While this might increase social acceptance and support and therefore social survival, it can come at a cost as well. I know a nurse who was very close to burn out. He wanted to step down from his full-time job to part-time so he could recover a bit and focus on his love of making music. His coworkers were horrified: “What will you even do with all your free time?” “How are you going to afford that?” “You should definitely stay full-time or it will be harder to get your next job.” His coworkers expected…