Ways to Live the Life on Your Own Terms

Living life on your own terms is a personal decision that no one makes for you. You cant be told how to live your life. It’s all up to you.

“I decided long ago never to walk in any man’s shadow. If I fail, if I succeed, at least I lived as I believed. No matter what they take from me, they can’t take away my dignity.” – Whitney Houston.

Everyone is born unique. But remaining unique can only be sustained by doing things in a unique way. There are certain terms and conditions that one must satisfy to be unique. Although some terms are natural to one’s species or environment, others are developed or mastered as a result of the choices they make in life. This is referred to as living life on one’s own terms, existing on one’s own terms.

As Whitney Houston song opined in the excerpt from her song above, one’s dignity is represented in the choice one makes about his way of life. Living life on one’s terms is not about all about good or bad, right or wrong. While these factors are important because they actually do matter, one’s identity and self-worth are the visible spectra that make one even more open to moral evaluation.

If you are seeking ways to live life on your own terms, there are some key things that one should understand or do to stand out. We have highlighted them for your adoption below.

Recognize Your Self-Worth

Whitney Houston was a singer and actress who was one of the bestselling music artists of all time. She knew her capacity to move people via her unique voice and music. So many great artists or public figures have one time, or the other expressed their confidence in their art even when others doubted them. Living life on your own terms requires constant motivation of self because there may be doubts from others and even self. But to realize this, recognizing your self-worth helps to erase doubts in the paths you choose in life.

Practice Mentorship To Others

If you have chosen your path, are living life on your own terms, and are successful, you would expect that others to want to be like you, right? Now, imagine that a group of young lads believe you can show them the way even as you are still yet to cut out your way. If you push them away, you will gain the time to find your own way.

But if you brought them close and mentored them, you would have discovered that unique thing that brought them close to you, which you would sell to others in your own way. Existing on your own terms requires that others see you as different from others. Mentoring others is both a strategy for and evidence of this.

Don’t Be Given Too Many Explanations

Living on your terms means you do not have the time to explain many of your choices or decisions to people. It means you do not have many words to waste over the outcome of your actions. “If I fail, if I succeed, at least I lived as I believed,” and not “If I fail or succeed, it will be because of X or Y”.

There’s really no one to impress when you want to live in your own world, so there is no need to be dramatic about events or outcomes. If you want to live on your own terms, cut the chase—tell us what is important and leave the critics to cry or sing about what is not important.

Set Rules

What are the terms and conditions? They are simply rules. Do you want to live on your own terms? Make the rules. Do you want to do something? What do you expect yourself to do to make it work? What are your expectations of others—like how they should behave around you? Do you want to have friends? What are the basic traits your friends must carry?

These are rules, your own terms. Make it explicit for all to see and know. There may be exceptions, but there you need to be sure that the perception of you out there reads your rules first. That way, others would only come in to fit into the world you already live in.