Who is Your True Enemy?

They're closer than you think.

"You are your own worst enemy. If you can learn to stop expecting impossible perfection, in yourself and others, you may find the happiness that has always eluded you." - Lisa Kleypas

A lot of the time, we're too focused on pleasing everyone around us, trying to hold onto things that need to be let go, and most importantly, discouraging ourselves. I personally know this feeling all too well. Overthinking about everything and everyone just leaves me confused. 

This summer, I began to start focusing on myself. The closer I got to accomplishing certain goals, I would start to slip back into old habits. How will this affect the people around me? I asked myself. What's the point? I should just stop this altogether. The crazy part is, everyone I talk to is very supportive of me. The only person who was in my way was me. 

As humans, we can go so long without noticing that we are doing too many things for the wrong people. But when you have good friends that you can talk to and open up to, you tend to see things for what they really are. Friends (-- that's a totally different topic that I'll get to in another post) that are there when you have those late nights thoughts about life come in clutch.

Soon after, God comes through and shows you that you have everything it takes to make all your dreams a reality. When these two things play a part at the right time, what can stop you from going out here and truly getting it? Today, I'm starting to make my own decisions without caring about what might happen or what others might say.

When we think that we aren't good enough and let negative thoughts affect our goals and dreams, we are giving in to the enemy. We can't allow this to happen to ourselves! We're stronger than we think.

I'm telling everyone to sit down and really think about who they are and what they want to do. At the end of the day, it's not the people around you stopping you, it's yourself. We've all been given the ingredients to make something of ourselves, just like a really bomb cake. Don't worry about whether or not people will like it; just bake the best cake that you can. 

 About the Author

Deja Totten is a criminal justice major and political science minor from Danville, Virginia. Follow Deja on IG and Twitter.