As Joseph Campbell said: “ Life has no meaning.

Each of us has meaning and we bring it

to life. It is a waste of time to be asking the question when you are the answer”. Indeed, I am
fully entitled to the way I choose to live my life, create my own meaning of life, and become my
own uniquely defined individual. More importantly, when looking back at my own life journey, I
want myself to have no regrets about anything that I have been through. Instead, I would like to
be able to wear a smile on my face that says, ‘I’m satisfied with what I have done in my life.”

Having been raised in an Asian family, I’ve been used to hearing comments like, “ you should
become a lawyer, doctor, business owner, or something of the like if you want to have a
meaningful life.” Yet, as I’ve grown older, I’ve begun to question for myself whether or not I have
to pursue a career I am not passionate about in order to make my life meaningful. Why can’t I
create my own meaning?

According to my Asian parents, I have to be someone valuable to society in order to be

remembered. It seems normal when people’s lives are set up by their parents. Luckily, I am able
to define myself on my own terms. I feel so lucky to have parents who abide by a more modern
approach which allows me to pursue my own choices.

“You learn more from failure than success,’ that is what they tell me every single day.
After coming to the US and adapting to my new environment, I have come to realize that others
around don’t seek happiness through trying to be someone else. I used to go through the path
that when my ‘existence is being defined by others’. During my time in middle school in
Vietnam, yes, I used to think that I would always consider it the most memorable experience of
my life. You know, I had a lot of friends, relationships, good grades, and above all, I was happy.
Sounds
amazing for a teenager, right?
But ... I later found out that it was all based on take advantage of each other; that is why a lot of
people wanted to become my friends. On the day I told them I would go study abroad and
expressed my happiness with my decision, I thought they would also be happy. None of them
felt happy for me, and instead they started to leave me and reveal to me the truth of our
friendship. The time we studied together and hung out decreased day by day, until it became
nonexistent. The last two months before my departure, I had to live with the stress of
losing my friendships. My mind was full of negativity surrounding my decision.

Nevertheless, these unhealthy relationships helped me find my purpose in life:

never letting others put me in a position where I can betray myself. A position where I feel like I
have to negotiate my sense of value or worth. A position where I have to sacrifice my
happiness. A position where I feel like I have to compromise who I am, and especially not a
position where I am psychically drained where I feel like I am losing myself. If I ever again allow
others to put me in such a position, I have betrayed myself; I have put poison in my mouth.

Actually, I don’t hate them. I want to thank them because they taught me how to
live better on my own. I don’t have to live a life of pleasing others. I know that I have
to surround myself with people who want me to be happy and who love me just the way I am.
This circumstance constantly wake me up from my false dream that I was not managing my
life well at that moment. I was making unwise choices that harmed me and that is why I was
hurting. At the end of that dream, In learned how special I am and that it is not too late for me to
wake up and live for myself again. Just imagine your body is a mirror, once you push too much
force on it, it will break easily, and then you will know how hard it is to collect all those small
pieces back together.

Keeping myself happy and enjoying every moment in life is my goal everyday. Make sure that
whatever you do, it is making you happy. That way, whenever you think back about it, you won’t
regret that moment. Time flies and can’t be taken back no matter what. Once every moment
passes by, you can’t wish for a return ticket. Of course, there are days when I stray from my
own philosophy, because I do have days when everything is ‘ too much’. It is gonna be hard and
I will want to quit sometimes, but I know one thing for sure: I will be colored by who I am and
who I want to be. Growing up is enjoying the process of living and learning. One should explore
life with arrogance, but learn from it with humility.

At the end of the book “ The Stranger”, in the prison Meursault said “ And now I am
ready to live it again”. Yes, So do I. Everyday with me is just the beginning, and I am so ready to
try and fall. Because I believe in the sentence : “Better late than never”. So just do it, you learn
how to walk after you fall, right? So don’t be scared of how hard life will push you, because you
can lead it in your own way and make you become the winner of your own life!