‘I wish I’d been courageous enough to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me’.

This is the most common regret people have as they reach the end of their lives. Isn’t it true that many of us worry excessively about what other people might think about us. How often did we hear parents say ‘don’t do that, what will other people think about you’. No wonder the world abounds with people pleasers! We all want to be accepted and loved, so we behave in a particular way just to get the approval of others.

The stress of being a people pleaser often ends up in depression. Really not surprising, is it? Trying to please everyone is inevitably going to lead straight down the road to failure. You simply can’t be successful living according to someone else’s expectations! To live an authentic life, you have to live a life true to yourself.

Don’t depend on other people for affirmation. Look inside yourself for what is right. Rather seek affirmation from the Lord.

In Jeremiah 17:5-8 (ESV) the Lord tells us why:

“Cursed is the man who trusts in man
and makes flesh his strength,
whose heart turns away from the Lord.
He is like a shrub in the desert,
and shall not see any good come.
He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,
in an uninhabited salt land.

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.
He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

When you meet the Lord one day he is not going to congratulate you on living a life that others expected of you. He will ask why you didn’t live like the person He made you to be!