How to Live an Independent Life
Independence is living life on your terms.
Living an independent life doesn’t equal living a lonely life. It only means you wish to take control over your life and are not willing to let others do it for you.
Your life is like a car and when you live an independent life, you get to sit in the driver’s seat.
And what is your main task as the driver?
The decision over direction.
You get to take control and decide on where you want to take your life, from the smallest decisions to the big ones.
But just like driving, you need some training before you get the keys and sit behind the wheel.
If you’re lucky your parents gave you some training when you were a child. Maybe you got to decide what kind of clothes you wanted to wear or how you wanted your room to be decorated.
Then you grow up, become an adult and living an independent life is no longer optional.
It was easy to delegate some of your tasks to your parents when you were a child. But as an adult, you need to own almost all parts of your life.
It’s your life, and if you expect others to make it happen the way you like you’re setting yourself up for a lot of disappointments.
No one else knows what makes you happy and to find happiness, you need to be in charge and dive deep inside.
Living an independent life is not that hard once you get to know yourself better. It’s got a lot to do with self-awareness.
You can start by realizing what your beliefs are, what personal values you stand for and what habits you have.
It’s true that not everyone has equal opportunities. Certain things do happen easier and faster for some people than others. But is that a good enough excuse to never take control over your life?
You can always start by the things you do have control over no matter how small or big they are.
An independent life is never done. It’s always a work in progress. That’s why you don’t need to wait until you’re ready or you have the resources you think you need.
Start by being in charge of your personal finance, working at a job you love and living in a country where you respect their laws.
As an adult, it’s no one else’s job to take care of you. Not your parents, not your friends and not your government.
Your life is too important to be dependent on others who have their own lives to take care of.
This is especially true if you want to live a good life when you’re old or during your retirement.
Remember, regrets are the worst thing to have in life. There are too many people who end up having regrets because they depended on others and could not achieve a fulfilled life.
You still have a chance to live a life with no regret and that starts by caring about your independence.
I hope this has inspired you to take control over your life and start to live an independent life where you can decide on its direction.
I wrote this piece as part of a 90-day challenge I took on to get better at this type of writing. To learn more about me you can visit my website here.