Never allow someone or something that adds very little to your life, to control so much of it.

Reading this quote for the first time, I was thinking, who would even do this, but then I realized, we all do this, and it starts at a very young age.  We want, no, we crave approval of others, and we’ll do a lot to get it.  As teenagers, we try and wear the right kind of clothing or date the “right” people in order to gain acceptance from the “cool” crowd.  The same in college only this time it may be we drink too much or use drugs or have meaningless hookups to get into the right fraternity or sorority…and no, I’m not saying all fraternities or sororities condone behavior like this.  In adulthood, we may get caught up in a “keep up with the Jones” type of thing with our neighbors.  But why?  In the long run, how important are these people to who we are inside.  If you look at it honestly, they’re only as important as we make them.  Why allow them to control our lives.  Why let them in at all?  If they’re supposed to be a part of your life, it’s going to happen naturally and on terms that work for both of you.