Stand strong by your decisions this holiday season

The holiday season is here, and it brings with it lots of interaction with loved ones. If you find yourself in a situation where family and friends are questioning your status in life, remind yourself that you can only live the life you have. Make the best of whatever season you are in. Single? Enjoy a quiet night in or go out with friends. Heck, have a getaway if you want. Engaged? Get rid of all the fear of what if. Everything will be ok. Plan only the kind of wedding you want or don’t have a wedding at all. This is your milestone to do with what you want. Married? Children or none, celebrate the family God has blessed you with. Hard as it might be for some marriages, focus on the positive. Find at least one thing to be grateful for every day. And for your own sake, do not compare your life - personal or professional - with anyone else’s. We are all walking our own journeys with our own unique challenges.

I learned a long time ago to stand strong in my decisions, even when the opinions of others say to do otherwise. Ten years ago today, my guy proposed in the most intimate way possible - in his tiny dorm room in Russia. He was 21 years old and just beginning his university studies. I was in the process of finishing my masters degree. We had known each other for just over four months. So, my response to his proposal was only natural. “Are you sure?” Like everything he had done before that moment, his response only reinforced what I was already feeling. “Why wait for later when you already know now who you want to be with for the rest of your life?”

This question has guided our lives over the years, regardless of what anyone thought of it at the time. When we got engaged, it was clearly too quickly for most people to understand. We proceeded anyway. No one’s option was stronger than our own. We held on to the positivity of the few people who supported our engagement from the moment they knew about it. We moved along with our plans without waiting for anyone else to come to terms with it.

Eventually, even those who doubted us came to realize that our lives were ours to live. We have grown so much in the last decade, and those people have all been our support system through pregnancies, moves, and babies. They came to understand that we don’t get to know what the future holds until we get there. One can only live now. If you have relatives or friends who insist on questioning every decision you make, consider some temporary distance.

Cheers to living positively and confidently!