Today’s advice comes in light of recent news that Zayn Malik has left One Direction. Now before you exit the page, this is not a story about tear stained pillows, endless loops of “Best Song Ever”….none of that nonsense!
I was reading up on what happened just to make sure the news wasn’t a hoax but for those of you who managed to scroll through your Facebook unscathed by the One Direction spam here’s what Zayn said about leaving the band, “I’d like to apologise to the fans if I’ve let anyone down, but I have to do what feels right in my heart.”
That line in particular spoke to me because it got me thinking about how we sometimes continue with business as usual simply to please others when you yourself are truly unhappy.
Have you ever gotten involved in something thinking it was a good idea and you’re really excited and think it’s going to be great only to realize that all of a sudden you didn’t want it but you feel you’re in too deep to get out and think you’ll let people down so you stay until you realize just how unhappy you are and that you have to leave?
Please excuse the lack of commas but that run on sentence is just as fast as things can spiral. Zayn’s decision to leave the band could not have been easy, most of us wouldn’t even be disappointing 10 people much less a fan base the size of a small country.
The moral of the story kids is you have to live your life for you and only you. No matter how entangled you feel in a situation just realize that you can always say no and back out. That’s not going to be easy but it’ll be worth it. People will get over it eventually but you will never have the opportunity to make yourself happy if you continue on.
So here’s to you Zayn for teaching us all how to follow our hearts.