Whose shoes are you wearing?

identity (noun) 1. the fact of being who or what a person or thing is

Are you trying to fill another person’s shoes?
If we take this idea literally for a minute, it is easy to appreciate that wearing someone else’s ill-fitting shoes is going to make walking any kind of distance hard. Shoes that are too small don’t allow enough room for your toes to relax and will rub and hurt (a lot) before long. Shoes that are too big don’t allow you to travel at your own comfortable pace and you are bound to lose at least one if you try to break into a run ; )

Nobody expects you to wear ill-fitting shoes. And nobody challenges your habit of wearing your own shoes. That would be ridiculous, right? But, isn’t the expectation to fill another’s metaphorical shoes just as ridiculous? And if you’re busy wearing another’s, who’s going to wear yours?

If we are in the habit of making choices for ourselves based on other people’s expectations (even if they say they only want the best for us), then at some point we are going to feel unsatisfied with our lot in life.

So, when was the last time you asked yourself ‘What do I really want? What do I want my life to mean?’.