The Downward Spiral and the Uphill Climb-- Reclaiming Yourself

If there's one thing I've learned over the course of the last few years of my life, it's that you can't live someone else's version of what your life is supposed to be (or what you think they think your life is supposed to be) and be happy.
We've all done it-- thinking we had to act a certain way, talk or look or be a certain way in order to be accepted, to be successful, to feel loved.
It's so stressful, living your life that way. It's stressful and frustrating and draining.
And the longer you go on that way, the more you find yourself getting comfortable with it.
The more comfortable you get, the harder it is to change it.
And it's a downward spiral. The more you become who they think you should be (or who you think they think you should be) the less "yourself" you become, and with each passing day, week, month, more and more of the real you is left along the wayside.
If you're lucky, something or someone will step into your path, grab onto you with both arms and shake you till you wake up.
It could be your kids, your family, a close friend, a significant other.
It could be a total stranger on the street who just happened to be passing you by at the time.
Be grateful for that person. Because even a day spent living someone else's version of your life, is a day too much. And the longer you live your life that way-- the further down the spiral carries you-- the harder it is to claw your way back up to the top again.
But it's worth the climb, and all of the work and effort and frustration that you'll find yourself facing on the way back to reclaiming yourself again, because once you get back to the top?
The view is incredible. And when you get there? You'll realize you never want to live your life any other way.