This post is my ongoing daily participation in @jongolson's fantastic Index4Index Initiative. Read his post, and get yourself involved!
Today's Index4Index Daily Inspired Motivation is about living on our own terms, and how that is the only true definition of success. If we're not living on our own terms, then we do not have self-determination, and if we don't have self-determination, then we are not sovereign, and without sovereignty, we are slaves. Period.
"I want to live on my own terms."
-Simone Elkeles
Somehow (it makes perfect sense in a slave system) it became the 'norm' to not live on our own terms, to not live as we want. Thankfully, I don't accept this poppycock, and it's my hope that you don't either.
This is one of the most important things in my life - to be able to live my life on my terms, and at the point where I am now, I can say that I do. That did not come easily, however. It took years of living in ways that didn't feel good to me, questioning and challenging it, and then finding other ways to live, often contrary to how most other people live. My life is radically different than most other poeple on earth, and I'm OK with this. I'm very accustomed to doing my own thing, not concerning myself with what others do or think.
Living our lives on our own terms is directly connected with several other important and related things, like (as mentioned above) self-determination and sovereignty, as well as self-sufficiency, self-reliance, self-dependence, and another big, one self-ownership. It means taking responsibility for ourselves and our own lives, and not looking to have someone else do everything for us. If you want to live on your own terms, you can't expect the (slave) system to support you, nor should you want it to do so, for you'd be giving up far too much.
For those who don't believe that living the way that we truly want, on our own terms, is possible, I'm here to tell straight up that it is, and that anybody who tells you otherwise is either doing so from ignorance or ill intent. I imagine a world of powerful, free, joyfully sovereign peoples. I know it's possible, and that's my greatest desire and intention in my life - to help that be true.
Remember, dear friends, that we are all in this together, that we rise by lifting others, and that together we thrive, so onward and upward, joyfully together! 😁🙏💚⚡💥🔥✴️✳️❇️👣🌱✨🤙